Located beneath the Basilica of Saints John and Paul, between the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus, the Roman Houses of Celio are one of the most fascinating places of the underground Rome, preserving over four centuries of history

The tour will begin along the charming Clivo di Scauro, one of the oldest and best-preserved streets in the Caelian Hill, where the tall porticoes and walled arches tell of a time when the hill was a densely populated neighbourhood.

Once through the entrance, we will immediately find ourselves inside the ancient shops of the Roman insula (apartment building): commercial spaces and warehouses that were later incorporated into a new and elegant domus (residence of patrician and wealthy families) decorated with frescoes of rare finesse.

Our tour will take us through a series of perfectly preserved rooms: the refined Sala dei Geni (Hall of the Genii), with its sensational decoration painted with winged youths and scenes of grape harvesting with cupids and birds of various species; the Sala dei Finti Marmi (Hall of Fake Marble), which takes its name from the fresco decoration on three overlapping registers dating back to the early 4th century; the Ninfeo (Nymphaeum), with its stunning representation of a mythological scene set in a marine context; the Sala dell’Orante (Hall of the Praying Woman), one of the most famous rooms in the complex. It takes its name from the representation of an intact figure of a woman in prayer, the main clue to the use of this room, especially in the Christian era.

The tour will end in the Antiquarium, a small museum housed in the basement of the upper chapel, which preserves artefacts unearthed during 19th- and 20th-century excavations: amphorae, medieval ceramics, an alabaster bust, finely decorated glassware and, above all, a large 12th-century fresco depicting Christ between the archangels Michael and Gabriel and Saints John and Paul.