The Baths of Nero (Italian - ''Bagni di Nerone'') are an archaeological site near the Porta a Lucca in Pisa, then the Roman city of Colonia Pisana. Now below street level, they are the only Roman remains still standing in the city and form a

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...

complex.

History

They were given the misnomer 'of Nero' in the medieval period, when they were believed to have been part of a palace - the earliest level actually dates to the final decades of the 1st century, during the reign of

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...

, as suggested by the use of the ''

opus vittatum ''Opus vittatum'' ("banded work"), also called ''opus listatum'', was an ancient Roman construction technique introduced at the beginning of the fourth century, made by parallel horizontal courses of tuff blocks alternated with bricks. Coarelli (1 ...

mixtum'' building technique with alternating layers of brick and

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

blocks. It was rebuilt during the 2nd century, as evidenced by an inscription ( CILbr>XI, 1433
now held in National Museum of San Matteo) which cites the Veruleii Aproniani family, well-known for owning extensive grounds and ceramics factories. In particular Lucius Venuleius Apronianus Priscus financed the rebuilding. He was a ''patronus'' of Roman Pisa and consul of Attidium (a Roman city near present-day

Fabriano Fabriano is a town and ''comune'' of Ancona province in the Italian region of the Marche, at above sea level. It lies in the Esino valley upstream and southwest of Jesi; and east-northeast of Fossato di Vico and east of Gubbio (both in Umb ...

), who held a number of offices in the Antonine period. As was typical of public figures in the Roman world, he funded several building projects: in 92 he built the Caldaccoli Aqueduct and also funded a building in Corliano. The best-preserved part of the complex is the ''

laconicum The ''laconicum'' (i.e. Spartan, ''sc.'' ''balneum'', bath). Cf. Greek ''pyriaterion to lakonikon'' "the Laconian vapour-bath"; , . was the dry sweating room of the Roman ''thermae'', contiguous to the ''caldarium'' or hot room. The name was given ...

'' (hot room), composed of an octagonal room with an apse, with a dome-shaped perforated roof, which has been partially restored. There are also the remains of some of the walls of the ''

palaestra A palaestra ( or ; also (chiefly British) palestra; grc-gre, παλαίστρα) was any site of an ancient Greek wrestling school. Events requiring little space, such as boxing and wrestling, took place there. Palaestrae functioned both indep ...

'' of the ''

apodyterium In ancient Rome, the apodyterium (from grc, ἀποδυτήριον "undressing room") was the primary entry in the public bath Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private bathing facilities. T ...

'' and two walls from the ''

tepidarium The tepidarium was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from t ...

''. Marble remains and some decorative sculptures have also been found. Its water was supplied by the nearby river Auser and from the Caldaccoli aqueduct. They were re-discovered and restored in the 16th and 17th centuries by command of

Cosimo III Cosimo III de' Medici (14 August 1642 – 31 October 1723) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 until his death in 1723, the sixth and penultimate from the House of Medici. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the elder son of Grand Duke Ferdinan ...

, excavated in 1881 by Clemente Lupi, fenced off in 1938 (after the demolition of some neighbouring houses) and finally fully restored in 1947. A covering dome was installed but this was worn out by the weather by 2007, when it was replaced.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Pisa Roman sites of Tuscany Building projects of the Flavian dynasty Ancient Roman baths in Italy