The house of Rome's first emperor Augustus is set to reopen later this year after decades of excavations.
The vast House of Augustus on the central Palatine Hill was mostly fenced off in 1961 for excavations which uncovered more of its splendours - and recently found remains of Rome's earliest settlements.
Officials said Friday that two of the emperor's most celebrated haunts, the Room of the Masks and the Room of the Pinecones, would be opened to tourists "by the end of the year".
"We now have the money to get them ready (for reopening) this year," said Lazio Cultural Chief Angelo Bottini.
Culture buffs have been dying to get back into the rooms to enjoy their remarkably vivid wall paintings (mostly in red, yellow and black), intricate designs and refined figure studies.
The rest of the vast complex should be ready for new visitors next year, Bottini said.
The reopening of the house is part of a drive to shore up the hill where Rome was born and draw more tourists to its threatened treasures.
The Palatine, site of the humblest early Roman settlements and the later opulent homes of the imperial elite, is often ignored by Rome's ten million annual visitors.
Part of the reason is the steep climb up from the Forum. Only a tenth of Rome's tourists bothers to trek up the Palatine after seeing the Colosseum.
Tourists who do get there have been dismayed to find many of the prime sites cordoned off.
Several villas, temples and residences have been undermined by subsidence.
"There's a widespread risk of collapse," Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli said recently, launching a three-year, multi-million-euro drive to make the area safe.
"It's time we got serious," Rutelli said.
He promised that the long-closed home of Augustus's wife Livia would also be reopened.
