After Rome burned in AD 64, Nero decided to use the tragedy as a real estate opportunity, building his new palace over one quarter of the charred remains of the city. As per the previous post, he built a lake where the Colosseum now stands, and a huge statue of himself. The thousands of room were covered in gold and jewels, perfume was sprayed from the ceiling, the dining room rotated for no particular reason, etc. etc. You get the general idea. Despite the over the top grandeur, the palace was used mostly for orgies and torture. When Nero killed himself only two years after the palace was complete, subsequent emperors abandoned the place to put distance between themselves and the hated Nero. The city grew over the palace and the whole thing was forgotten until a wing was accidentally uncovered during construction in the fifteenth century. This discovery caused quite a stir among Renaissance artists, as it was crammed full of classical paintings and sculpture more advanced than anything being done at the time.



Unfortunately all the good stuff has long been stripped from the place, so what you're left with is a large number of huge, empty brick rooms. To make matters worse, only a few people are let in each day, and you've got to take a long, boring guided tour of the bricks. Historically important, but quite a bore.