PALATINO

The Palatine hill is one of the seven hills of Rome, one could even think that it is the most important one since it is here that everything started... Remember, it is on this hill, which is nearly 70 m high and is one of the last promontories before the coastal plain, that Romulus is said to have founded the city of Rome on April 21, 753 BC! Mount Palatine takes its name from Pales, the goddess of pastures. It is an infinite source of vestiges. On the western side of the hill, towards the Tiber, archaeologists have found traces of a primitive village (Romulus huts) dating back to the Bronze Age. Since the Palatine was originally the hill where the aristocracy resided, it became over time the residence of the emperors. It was first Augustus, the first Roman emperor (27 BC), who lived next to the primitive huts, then Tiberius, his adopted son, who built a larger one. In the same family, there is also Nero who built his Domus Transitory and, towards the end of the first century AD, Domitian, Vespasian's son, who settled on the Palatine and had a grandiose palace built, the Domus Flavia, with the help of his architect Rabirio. Little by little, Domitian's residence became, especially towards the end of the Empire, the official residence of the Roman emperors. In the 6th century, during the Gothic wars, the barbarians who were besieging Rome destroyed the aqueducts to bring the city to its knees. The hills and the Palatine were thus abandoned.

In the Middle Ages, there were a few convents on the Palatine, but it was during the Renaissance that the Farneses began to build on the ruins of Tiberius' palace, slowly bringing the Palatine back to life. Then it was the turn of the Barberini family who built magnificent gardens towards the Colosseum. The Farnese Garden(Orti Farnesiani), designed by the architect Vignole, was the first botanical garden in the world and you can walk through it and admire the magnificent views of the city.

Finally, it was in the 18th century that excavations began that continue to this day and lead to new discoveries such as the Palace of Tiberius, which was also the residence of Caligula: the Palatine is a real gold mine for historians, archaeologists and researchers! Just imagine what is under your feet right now: centuries and centuries of Roman history still to be discovered!