Roman emperors sites at a glance
Augustus's house (Palatine Hill): Via Sacra entrance; €18 combined Colosseum ticket. Original frescoes | Hadrian's Villa Tivoli: €8; 120 hectares; 30 km from Rome | Domus Aurea (Nero): €16. Timed entry + VR. Colle Oppio park | Castel Sant'Angelo (Hadrian's tomb): €16. From mausoleum 135 AD to papal fortress | Mausoleum of Augustus: €10. Reopened 2022. Piazza Augusto Imperatore
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Augustus, the emperor whose bedroom survives
The Casa di Augusto (the House of Augustus on the Palatine Hill, accessible via the Colosseum + Forum + Palatine combined ticket €18, timed entry at coopculture.it. Open daily 9am-1 hour before sunset. The Palatine Hill is accessed from the main Forum entrance on Via Sacra or from the Colosseo metro stop): the most specifically intimate imperial Rome experience, the actual residential space of Gaius Octavius, adopted son of Julius Caesar, who became Augustus (the first Roman Emperor, 27 BC. 14 AD, the longest-reigning Roman Emperor in history at 41 years) and chose to live not in a palatial complex but in a relatively modest house on the Palatine Hill that he had occupied as a senator before becoming emperor. The specific Augustus modesty: the Roman historian Suetonius (in his Lives of the Twelve Caesars, written approximately 120 AD) specifically noted that Augustus lived in the same house for 40 years after becoming emperor, refusing to move to a larger or more ostentatious residence. The house wasn't enlarged or renovated significantly during his reign. The specific rooms: the tablinum (the study, the room with the original 1st century BC fresco decoration, the most complete surviving Augustan period fresco program in Rome. The specific fresco theme is theatrical architecture, the painted simulation of three-dimensional stage-set architecture with columns, pediments, and architectural perspectives. The painted colors, the specific Pompeian red, ochre yellow, and the Egyptian blue of the deeper recesses, are essentially intact because the room was buried under the Domus Flaviana additions of the later 1st century AD, which protected the earlier frescoes from light damage). And the so-called bedroom (a smaller room off the tablinum, traditionally identified as the cubiculum where Augustus slept, the original floor mosaic, the original plaster walls, and the original dimensions of the space). The Mausoleum of Augustus (the Mausoleo di Augusto, Piazza Augusto Imperatore, Rome. €10. Reopened after 14 years of restoration in 2022. Open daily 9am-7pm. The circular funerary monument with a diameter of 87 metres, the largest Roman circular mausoleum ever built): Augustus commissioned the Mausoleum in 28 BC, the year after the Battle of Actium that ended the Civil War, as the first act of the new regime. Rome guide
Hadrian's Villa and Nero's Domus Aurea
The Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli. €8. Open daily 9am-1 hour before sunset; 30 km east of Rome by train to Tivoli station + COTRAL bus. UNESCO 1999. The largest single Roman villa complex in history): constructed under the Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD, the most architecturally sophisticated Roman emperor, who personally designed several buildings in his villa complex and during his reign built or renovated approximately 1,000 buildings across the empire) between 118 and 134 AD at approximately 120 hectares. The Villa Adriana doesn't merely reproduce Roman standard villa architecture, it specifically recreates buildings that Hadrian saw on his empire-wide travels (the emperor traveled to every province of the Roman Empire during his 21-year reign. His travel diary, lost, is reconstructed from the specific Villa Adriana building identifications). The specific Hadrian buildings: the Canopus (the specific Egyptian canal-shrine reproduction, the Nile god and the Antinous statues in the canal pool reflect the specific Hadrian Egyptian journey of 130 AD, during which his beloved companion Antinous drowned in the Nile, the drowned Antinous was then deified by the grief-stricken emperor, the last human to be deified in the Roman pagan tradition). The Tholos (the circular island pavilion, the Teatro Marittimo, a circular colonnaded island surrounded by a moat, accessible only by drawbridges, interpreted as Hadrian's private retreat where he could be alone without the imperial household). And the Piazza d'Oro (the largest of the Villa Adriana public reception spaces, with the specific octagonal vestibule whose concrete umbrella vault is the most complex Roman concrete vault form executed outside Rome). The Domus Aurea (Nero's Golden House. Colle Oppio park, Via della Domus Aurea, Rome; €16 + mandatory advance booking at coopculture.it. Open Friday-Monday 9am-4pm. Closed Tuesday-Thursday): the specific Nero megaproject (64-68 AD, begun after the Great Fire of Rome of 64 AD, the fire that destroyed a significant part of the city and cleared the Palatine-Caelian-Esquiline space for Nero's personal villa): 300 rooms in the excavated section. Originally estimated at 80-300 acres covering the entire hill system between the Palatine and the Esquiline. The rooms were buried under the next Baths of Trajan (109 AD), their discovery in the Renaissance produced the 'grotesque' (the word derives from 'grotta', cave, the specific discovery of Nero's underground rooms by Renaissance artists including Raphael who were lowered into the Domus Aurea on ropes through the roof holes. The room decorations, the specific Nero fresco program of theatrical-architectural landscapes with bizarre animal hybrids, were called 'grotesque' from the grotta context and gave the name to the decorative style).
Can you visit Augustus's house in Rome?
The Casa di Augusto (the House of Augustus on the Palatine Hill, included in the €18 Colosseum + Forum + Palatine combined ticket. Coopculture.it. Open daily 9am-1 hour before sunset): yes, the actual residential rooms of the first Roman emperor are accessible, including the tablinum study with the original 1st century BC theatrical-architecture frescoes (among the most complete surviving Augustan period frescoes in Rome) and the cubiculum bedroom. Suetonius documented that Augustus lived in this same modest house for 40 years as emperor without enlarging it, the house is accessible from the Palatine Hill visitor circuit.
What is Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli?
Villa Adriana (Tivoli. €8. Open daily 9am-sunset; 30 km from Rome by train to Tivoli + COTRAL bus. UNESCO 1999): the largest Roman villa ever built (120 hectares), constructed 118-134 AD by Emperor Hadrian as a recreation of buildings he had seen on his empire-wide travels. Key elements: the Teatro Marittimo circular island pavilion (Hadrian's private retreat, accessible only by drawbridges). The Canopus Egyptian canal-shrine (reproducing the Nile canal of Alexandria, with statues of Antinous, the companion who drowned in the Nile in 130 AD and was then deified). And the Piazza d'Oro octagonal vestibule (the most complex surviving Roman concrete vault). Allow 3-4 hours minimum.
What is the Domus Aurea?
The Domus Aurea (Nero's Golden House. Colle Oppio park, Rome; €16 + mandatory advance booking at coopculture.it. Open Friday-Monday 9am-4pm): Nero's megaproject villa (64-68 AD), begun after the Great Fire of Rome, covering an estimated 80-300 acres of the central hill system. Buried under Trajan's Baths in 109 AD. Rediscovered in the Renaissance when Raphael and other artists were lowered on ropes through roof holes, the room fresco decorations (theatrical landscapes with animal hybrids) gave the name 'grotesque' to the decorative style, from 'grotta' (cave, the underground discovery context). Currently: timed entry with VR overlay; 45-minute guided tours through 300 excavated rooms.
What is the Mausoleum of Augustus?
The Mausoleo di Augusto (Piazza Augusto Imperatore, Rome. €10. Reopened 2022 after 14-year restoration. Open daily 9am-7pm): the largest Roman circular mausoleum ever built (87m diameter), commissioned in 28 BC, the year after Actium, as the first act of the new Augustan regime. The mausoleum contained the ashes of Augustus (14 AD), the Empress Livia, and most of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The exterior earthen mound (originally planted with cypress trees and topped with a bronze Augustus statue) is now partly excavated. In medieval and Renaissance Rome the mausoleum was converted to a fortress (the Orsini family), then an amphitheater (1470s), then an auditorium (the Augusteo concert hall, 1907-1937, demolished by Mussolini for the Augusto Imperial Piazza).
What is Castel Sant'Angelo?
Castel Sant'Angelo (Lungotevere Castello 50, Rome. €16. Open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-7:30pm): the funerary monument of Emperor Hadrian (built 135-139 AD. Hadrian died 138 AD before it was completed. His ashes were placed here by his successor Antoninus Pius). The cylindrical mausoleum (64m diameter, 21m high) was converted to a papal fortress by the Popes beginning in the 10th century, the specific Castel Sant'Angelo papal use: the fortress was connected to the Vatican by the Passetto di Borgo (the elevated corridor, 800m, built in the 13th century to allow the Pope to flee the Vatican in emergencies. Used by Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome 1527). The Angel on the summit: the bronze angel (the Archangel Michael, the patron of the fortress) appeared in a vision to Pope Gregory the Great in 590 AD above the mausoleum during a plague procession, the sheathing of the sword indicated the end of the plague.
Planning a Roman emperor sites tour?
Palatine Hill Augustus bedroom €18 + Domus Aurea Nero VR Friday-Monday €16 + Tivoli Hadrian Villa 120 hectares €8 + Mausoleum Augustus €10.
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Where can I see Roman emperors' statues in Rome?
Best Roman emperor statues to see in Rome: the Marcus Aurelius equestrian bronze (the Musei Capitolini, Piazza del Campidoglio. €15. The only surviving ancient Roman equestrian bronze. The outdoor statue in the piazza is a copy, the original is inside. Marcus Aurelius 161-180 AD). The Augustus of Prima Porta (the Vatican Museums. €20. The marble statue showing Augustus as military commander with the specific breastplate relief of the Parthian treaty return of the Roman standards. The polychrome paint traces are still visible on the armour in raking light). The Trajan's Column reliefs (Forum of Trajan, free exterior. The 190-metre helical frieze showing the Dacian wars in continuous narrative, the most extensive surviving ancient Roman historical narrative). And the Farnese Hercules (the Museo Nazionale di Napoli. €22. The 3rd-century AD marble copy of the 4th-century BC Lysippos bronze, the most physically powerful ancient statue in Italy).
What can you see at the Forum of Augustus?
The Forum of Augusto (the Forum of Augustus. Via dei Fori Imperiali, Rome. Partially visible free from the fencing on Via dei Fori Imperiali. Full interior access on specific open days, check 060608.it. The most undervisited of the Imperial Fora): Augustus built his forum in 2 BC to house the Temple of Mars Ultor (Mars the Avenger, dedicated to the god Augustus invoked before the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC when he avenged Julius Caesar's assassination. Augustus vowed the temple in 42 BC, 42 years before its completion). The specific Forum of Augustus archaeological element: the fire wall, the high wall on the north side of the forum (still standing 33 metres high) wasn't a defensive wall but a fire barrier, designed to protect the forum from the specific fires that repeatedly ravaged the Subura neighborhood immediately north of the wall. The colonnade: two rows of the original Forum of Augustus columns are re-standing at the south-east corner.
