Domus Aurea

This guide to the Domus Aurea in Rome opens with a Renaissance-era accident: a young Roman falling through the earth on the Esquiline Hill into a painted chamber lost for over a thousand years. It follows Nero's construction of the Golden House after the fire of 64 AD, its burial by his successors, and the artists, Raphael among them, who lowered themselves by rope to study the ancient frescoes. You'll see their graffiti resting alongside Nero's original paintings on the walls around you.