Your guide will meet you at your hotel at 9:50 AM. Your prebooked admission to the site is
for 10:20 AM. Emperor Nero's site was a huge complex of villas erected on the Esquiline Hill. This
impressive area was designed by the architects Severus and Celer, who completed the project in 68
AD. In fact, it was so large that it actually seemed more like a town than a home. It was called
Domus Aurea, meaning Golden House. There is little remaining of this mighty complex since many
of Nero's successors actually returned the site to the Roman citizens. Furthermore, the newer
constructions were of course, built atop this one.
Your lecturer-guide will then escort you to San Clemente, just a 10 minute walk from here. It
is one of the eighteen important churches in Rome that are known to have existed as early as the
3rd century AD. It was dedicated to St. Clement who was Pope from 88 AD to 97 AD, and the third
Roman Bishop after St. Peter.
It was destroyed during the Norman invasion in 1084. The remains can now be seen in the lower
church, which was uncovered in the mid-19th century. A few years after the church was destroyed, a
new building was started under Pope Paschal II, who reigned from 1099 to 1118. Since it was
constructed on a higher level, it became known
as the Upper Church.
On our return, you'll have time remaining to take in a lecture explaining the exterior ring of
the the Flavian Amphitheatre.

This tour is designed for a party of up to 14 people. It includes a private and fluent English
speaking licensed guide.


PLEASE NOTE:
The Domus Aurea is closed on Tuesdays.


Site tickets are not included in the price.


Feel free to contact us for answers to your questions and price estimates.