DK Travel : Rome : History & Culture

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Nero’s Golden House

Subsequent emperors were so embarrassed by Nero’s gargantuan profligacy that they went to great lengths to undo as much of it as they could. One way was to give some of the land Nero took for himself back to the use of the Roman people. The Flavians drained his lake and built the Colosseum, to provide the citizenry with a suitable place for their gladiatorial spectacles. Then Trajan built Rome’s first great bath complex by cutting through Nero’s original house and building right over it (see Trajan).
Nero’s Golden House

Like most of “underground Rome”, Nero’s fabulous and vast palace was not originally buried. But when Renaissance worthies such as Raphael chopped holes in the roof and lowered themselves into the sumptuously decorated rooms on ropes, they called the spaces “grottoes”, and named the intricate frescoed designs of foliage and fantastical creatures “grotesques” (see Nero’s Golden House (Domus Aurea)).
Nero’s Golden House

When the rooms of the mad emperor’s house were discovered in the late 1400s, everyone thought they’d found mysterious grottoes. Consequently, the style of wall painting found here became known as “grotesque” and was much imitated by Renaissance artists, including Raphael (see Nero’s Golden House (Domus Aurea)).
Oriental Art Museum

A fine, though small collection of Middle and Far Eastern art, ranging from prehistoric Persian ceramics to 18th-century Tibetan paintings. The most fascinating works are the Ghandharan. These 3rd-century BC to 10th-century AD Indian Buddhist works display both Asian and Greek influences, due to the conquest of the area that is now Pakistan by Alexander the Great.
Ostia Antica

Ancient Rome’s trading heart has a wealth of fascinating ruins that evoke the city’s earliest days.
Ovid

Greatest Roman Classical poet (43 BC–AD 17). His Metamorphoses codified many Roman myths, but Ars Amatoria detailed how to entice women and got him exiled.
Palatine Hill

Most European languages derive their word for palace from the name of this hill. All-important in the history of early Rome, first as its birthplace, then as the home of its leaders’s opulent homes, it now serves as a bucolic setting for a romantic stroll (see Palatine Hill Features).

Domus Augustana, Palatine Hill
Palazzo Altemps

This 15th-century palace was overhauled in 1585 by Martino Longhi, who is probably also responsible for the stucco and travertine courtyard (previously attributed to Antonio da Sangallo the Younger or Peruzzi). It now makes an excellent home to one wing of the Museo Nazionale Romano, its frescoed rooms filled with ancient sculptures.
Palazzo Barberini

The Barberini sold their palace to the Italian State in 1949 to house part of the National Gallery, which was founded in 1893 with the purchase of the Corsini Palace. The number of pictures in the collection now exceeds 1,700 and has been added to through the acquisition of collections from Rome’s noble families over the ensuing years. Among the most famous works are Filippo Lippi’s Madonna and Child , the controversial La Fornarina (supposedly Raphael’s mistress, probably painted by Giulio Romano, his favourite pupil), and Caravaggio’s Judith and Holofernes .
Palazzo del Quirinale

The highest of the original seven hills, the Quirinal was also the enclave of the ancient Sabines (see Rape of the Sabine Women) in Rome’s earliest days. Today, it is graced by 5.5-m (18-ft) Roman copies of 5th-century BC Greek originals of the Dioscuri and their prancing horses. The hill’s stark, imposing palace, Rome’s largest, was built in 1574 as a summer papal residence, to escape the endemic malaria around the Vatican. In 1870 it became the residence of the kings of Italy and, since 1947, Italy’s presidents have held official functions here.