Rome City Breaks

As capital of the Roman Empire, the Papal States and Italy, Rome truly is the " Eternal City". One of the world's most elegant capitals the layers of history and the city's sheer excess of beauty can prove overwhelming to the unsuspecting visitor.

City breaks in Rome are set to get a new 2,000-year-old attraction.

Nero's palace, the Domus Aurea, is to be reopened to the public after heavy rains made the ceiling unstable and led to it being closed.

The palace will now be reopened to allow the public to see the renovation works going on.

Rome's superintendent of architecture Angelo Bottini told the Italian news agency ANSA: "Once the roof is safe from leaking water people can come back in.

"They'll be able to see the repair work for themselves. We're thinking of putting up a special visitors' route amid the scaffolding."

Much of the notorious emperor's golden palace was preserved as his successors buried it in an attempt to wipe his memory from history. As a result the palace's frescos are said to be some of the most vivid outside Pompeii.

It is currently uncertain how many of the palace's 30 rooms will be opened to the public, although attractions such as the eight-sided Sala Ottagonale where Nero opulently entertained his guests and the chalks marks left by Renaissance masters, such Raphael, after they visited to admire the murals will be on show.