Mostra, Nerone - Gallery - Electa

La Domus Transitoria
“Tuttavia in nulla fu più prodigo quanto
nell’edificare”; così Svetonio (Vita di Nerone,
31) commenta la megalomania di costruire che
caratterizzò Nerone durante tutto il suo regno.
Le costruzioni neroniane del Palatino, sono note in
base allo stesso passo, in cui si precisa che Nerone
“costruì una residenza che dal Palatino arrivava
all’ Esquilino”; la domus, dapprima definita
“transitoria”, fu ricostruita dopo l’incendio del 64
d.C. e chiamata “aurea”.
Della Domus Transitoria restano sul Palatino
importanti strutture sotto il Triclinio della Domus
Flavia, scavate dai Farnese nel Settecento e da
Giacomo Boni intorno al 1913: attraverso due
scale di accesso, che si configurano come parodoi
ai lati della frons scaenae di un teatro, si scende
in un cortile con un ninfeo articolato in nicchie;
una cascata alimentava gli zampilli antistanti il
pulpito, ornato di colonnine in marmo colorato.
Sul lato opposto un ricco padiglione a dodici
colonne di porfido era destinato all’imperatore,
sdraiato nella lettiga in corrispondenza della
nicchia retrostante.
Ai lati del ninfeo, si disponevano ambienti
lussuosamente decorati, con pavimenti intarsiati
e pareti di marmo arricchite da scene figurate; le
volte erano affrescate con raffigurazioni epiche
e avevano le pareti arditamente interrotte da
strutture a gradini per la caduta dell’acqua. La
profusione dell’oro nella decorazione pittorica era
volta a creare un immediato collegamento con
la favolosa età dell’oro di cui Nerone era stato
l’iniziatore.
I L M U S E O
PA L AT I N O
T H E PA L AT I N E
M U S E U M
42 MUSEO PALATINO
The Domus Transitoria
‘There was nothing in which he was more
extravagant than in building’. Thus commented
Suetonius (Nero, 31) on the megalomania that
characterised Nero’s building activities during his
reign. Nero’s constructions on the Palatine are
recorded in the same passage, in which he states
that Nero ‘constructed a residence that stretched
from the Palatine to the Esquiline’.
This Domus, initially called ‘Transitoria’, was built
after the fire of AD 64 and given the name ‘Aurea’.
Important remains of the Domus Transitoria were
excavated on the Palatine beneath the triclinium of
the Domus Flavia by the Farnese in the 18th century,
and by Giacomo Boni c. 1913. A visitor descended by
one of two staircases located like the parodoi (wings)
of a theatre on either side of a frons scaenea (stage)
to a courtyard with a nymphaeum (fountain), its
backdrop articulated in a series of niches. A waterfall
fed the spouts located behind the pulpitum (a
speaker’s platform in front of the stage), which was
decorated with small columns of coloured marble.
On the opposite side there was a lavishly decorated
pavilion with twelve porphyry columns, where the
emperor could recline on a bed, framed by the niche
behind him. To the sides of the nymphaeum there
were luxuriously decorated rooms with inlaid floors
and marble walls decorated with figured scenes.
The vaults were painted in fresco with depictions of
scenes from epic and water ran down steep steps set
against the walls. The extensive use of gold in the
painted decoration was intended to create
an immediate connection with the mythical golden
age that Nero had begun.