The Domus Tiberiana Video 2

The cluster of buildings which evolved between the reigns of Tiberius and Nero were badly damaged in the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, after which Nero remodeled the palace and incorporated it into his Domus Aurea, an immense network of buildings stretching from the Esquiline Hill west to the Palatine, where it terminated at the Domus Tiberiana. Part of the rebuilding involved constructing a buttressed perimeter wall which enclosed the assorted houses for the first time. The Neronian building was badly damaged by another fire in 80 AD. Domitian undertook the grandest building program of any emperor on the Palatine, restoring and enlarging the Domus Tiberiana and incorporating it as an annex to his primary new residence. During the medieval era, the palace was abandoned and fell into ruins. It suffered severe material theft during the middle ages, and was being used as an orchard when Alessandro Farnese decided to convert the property to a grand formal garden, the first private botanical garden in Europe. The first excavations were undertaken in 1728, which uncovered a great many architectural fragments.