📍Domus Aurea, Via della Domus Aurea 1, 00184 Rome, Italy
64 – 68“My father died when I was very small, and my mother Agrippina schemed tirelessly until I became emperor at sixteen. In the year 64 a great fire destroyed two-thirds of Rome, and on the burned land between the Palatine and Esquiline hills I built my new palace, the Domus Aurea — the Golden House. It sprawled across the heart of the city: gardens, vineyards and woodland, an artificial lake where the Colosseum now stands, and an entrance hall large enough for a colossal bronze statue of me, over a hundred feet high. My architects, Severus and Celer, built an octagonal hall roofed with a concrete dome open to the sky, and a dining room whose ceiling turned like the heavens while perfume and rose petals fell on the guests. When it was finished I said that at last I could begin to live like a human being. I sang and acted on stage, which scandalised the Senate. My successors were ashamed of the palace; they stripped it and buried it, and Trajan built his baths on top. Its rooms, still painted, are now open to visitors underground.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today