The theater of Nero comes to light after centuries buried at the gates of the Vatican

The find had been underground for two thousand years and was only mentioned in past texts, but this historic coincidence has revealed its whereabouts, and it turns out that it was located a few meters from the Vatican, in the courtyard of the Palazzo de la Rovere.

“With this excavation we were able to propose an identification proposal that is based on a series of archaeological clues that are very consistent with each other and that lead us to identify this space as the ancient theater of Nero,” said Alessio de Cristofaro, an archaeologist at the City Council. of Rome who has worked on the excavation.

The Nero theater was a luxurious building from the imperial era where the emperor liked to exhibit himself. It was built by himself in the area dominated by those known as “Horti de Agrippina la Mayor”, mother of Caligula, a large property of the imperial family Julio Claudia, where a huge circus for horse racing was built.

The texts of ancient authors such as Pliny, Svetonio and Tacitus commented on the existence of the theater in the area now occupied by the Vatican and its adjoining streets, but the large number of buildings that rise in this Roman neighborhood, many of them of high artistic and cultural value, made it difficult to start excavations to prove the location.

The discovered remains are part of the left side of the cavea, in the shape of a hemicycle, and the scene, where architectural elements that testify to the luxury and splendor of Nero's Theater were preserved, such as columns and decorations.

“The extremely rich architectural decoration, consisting of white marble and colored marble with fluted columns of the Ionic order and stucco covered with gold leaf, and the presence of a certain type of brick allow us to accurately date the building between the time of Caligula and that of Nero”, detailed Cristofaro.

The “Theatrum Neronis”

The “Theatrum Neronis” was a large theater with capacity for thousands of spectators, which was regularly enjoyed by Emperor Nero, a great fan of the arts and remembered for going up to the Roman stages to recite poetry, before the imperial family, his closest circles. and, on special occasions, a larger audience.

But in addition, the excavations have allowed the discovery of rare examples of glass goblets, pitchers, ceramic materials, pilgrim insignia, bone objects and rosary matrices from the Middle Ages accumulated over the millennia.

Since this was the path by which pilgrims from half the world arrived at the place where Christian tradition indicates that the tomb of Saint Peter, the first pope, is located under the current basilica of the same name, and they left behind religious objects and souvenirs.

“The Middle Ages are not easy to find in this city. It is known for its palaces, churches and certain historical sources, but from the material point of view there are not many remains like the ones we have here, which go from the 10th to the 15th century and which tell us part of the economic and social history of the city,” said Renato Sebastiani, also an archaeologist.

After almost three years of excavations and archaeological documentation, the work continues with the aim that the discovered elements can be visited in the coming years thanks to a museum space of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, owner of the Rovere Palace.