Domus Aurea: o que há por perto, como chegar e quando ir · 2026

Renaissance painters rediscovered the buried rooms after a passerby fell through a hillside opening into painted subterranean chambers. Artists including Raphael, Michelangelo, and Domenico Ghirlandaio had themselves lowered on ropes to copy the uncovered decorative schemes. These delicate antique motifs inspired the grotesque style across Italian decorative art, while later travelers carved their names directly into the painted plaster.

Modern exposure to outside atmosphere admitted moisture that continuously threatens the stability of the subterranean galleries. High humidity levels, rainfall infiltration, and root systems from the municipal park above place immense structural loads on the ancient vaulted masonry. Structural fractures and vault collapses have repeatedly forced prolonged site closures to allow engineering stabilization and climate controls.