A 60-metre [645 square feet] section of the roof over Neros’s Domus Aurea or Golden Palace collapsed at around 10 am yesterday, La Repubblica reports.
Officials at the site, which was closed to tourists for restoration work, say that no one was injured and put the collapse down to the effects of torrential rain in Rome over the past two months.
The Domus Aurea derived its name because of the amount of gold leaf that was used in its decoration but when Nero committed suicide in AD 68 the palace was stripped of its precious materials, which were used in other buildings in Rome.
Nero’s successors had the palace covered over and in AD 98 the Emperor Trajan had a complex of baths built over it.
The section of ceiling which collapsed was from a hallway in the bathing complex.
Commissioner for the site Luciano Marchetti says that further, urgent restoration work is required to secure the buildings and that funding of 10 million euros is needed.
