Case romane del Celio
An extraordinary archaeological complex lies below the beautiful church of St. John and Paul, where, according to the tradition, the two saints, who lived here, were martyred under the Emperor Julian the Apostate.
Like a game of Chinese boxes we will find within this complex, which has been returned to the public in 2002 and kept in museums:
- a rich domus dating at the age of Hadrian, built on two levels with a private spa facility;
- an insula (a block of flats) dating from the third century on the Clivus Scauri, with a portico, tabernae on the ground floor and flats for rent on the upper floors;
- the transformation of the domus and insula, by a new owner, in one elegant domus with rooms decorated with beautiful frescoes (they were discovered in the late nineteenth century in excellent condition);
- further frescoes, made under the last owner (the Senator Pammachius in the fifth century), in memory of the martyrdom of the two saints;
- a chapel with medieval frescoes;
- an antiquarium.
If we walk through the various frescoed rooms of this place right next the Coliseum and helped by our imagination and by the literary sources, we can reconstruct the daily lives of the real people that have taken place over the course of three centuries: an aristocrat, a poor citizen, Christian martyrs.
Details
1 hour
hypogeum
entrance ticket not included
special opening (please let me know a few days in advance, because we need to ask for a special permission)
