Walking through Nero's palace

The guided tour of the Domus Aurea winds through the surviving rooms of the pavilion on the Colle Oppio: monumental corridors, frescoed halls and the most revolutionary architectural space of Roman antiquity. Here's what to look for, room by room.

The spots you can't miss

1. The Sala Ottagona — The masterpiece: an octagonal hall crowned by a dome with a great central oculus that pours light from above. In engineering daring it anticipates the Pantheon by half a century — this is where the Romans first experimented with "modern" space, fluid and lit from overhead.

2. The grotesques — The fantastical wall decorations — hybrid creatures, scrolling foliage, painted architecture — that gave their name to an entire style. Rediscovered in the Renaissance (artists lowered themselves into the buried "grottoes," hence "grotesques"), they inspired Raphael and the Vatican Loggias.

3. The cryptoporticus and the long corridors — The vaulted spaces that make you feel the immense scale of the palace.

4. The Golden Vault and the frescoed halls — Remains of the decorations that once sheathed the ceilings, the source of the name "Golden House."

5. Traces of the lake and the Colossus — Your guide explains where the artificial lake stood (today the Colosseum) and where the colossal statue of Nero rose, the one that gave the Flavian Amphitheatre its name.

The real payoff: seeing the invisible

Much of the Domus Aurea is lost or buried, and that's exactly why the guided tour matters: the storytelling (and the virtual reality) rebuilds what's no longer there — the colored marbles, the gardens, the lake, the gold. Without that "reading," the rooms can look like nothing more than dark spaces; with it, they come back to life.

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At a glance: the route

  1. Corridors and cryptoporticus: the scale of the palace.
  2. Frescoed halls and grotesques: the decoration that made history.
  3. Sala Ottagona: the architectural heart, with its oculus.
  4. Virtual reality: the reconstruction of the vanished spaces.

Frequently asked questions

What can you actually see at the Domus Aurea today? Monumental corridors, frescoed halls, the famous grotesques and, above all, the Sala Ottagona with its oculus. Where it's offered, virtual reality recreates the lost marbles, lake and gardens.

What is the Sala Ottagona of the Domus Aurea? It's an octagonal hall with a dome and a central oculus, the masterpiece of Neronian architecture: it foreshadows the Pantheon's solutions by decades and is considered a turning point in the history of architectural space.

What are the grotesques? They're the fantastical wall decorations of the Domus Aurea (creatures, scrolling foliage, painted architecture). Rediscovered in the Renaissance inside the buried halls ("grottoes"), they inspired Raphael and gave their name to an entire decorative style.

Why did the Domus Aurea inspire Raphael? In the 15th and 16th centuries, artists lowered themselves into the buried rooms to study the frescoes: those "grotesques" deeply shaped Renaissance decoration, including Raphael's Vatican Loggias.

Is it worth visiting if so much is lost? Yes: the guided storytelling and the virtual reality rebuild what's missing, making the visit far richer than the bare rooms alone would suggest. It's one of the most original experiences in Rome.

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Article #240 · Category: Archaeology · Updated: May 2026