The walls of the Stadio di Domiziano started to appear in 1936 during the demolitions and reconstructions of the houses built on its hemicycle. After a complete excavation of the entire area, the ruins of the Stadium were included in the Palazzo dell’INA.
The internal walls, made of Travertine blocks and brickwork, are covered with simple stucco decorations.
The Stadio di Domiziano, an example of a brick stadium only known outside Greece and the western world, has a Circensian form (265m x 106m). Its long sides are parallel, one of the short sides curved and the other slightly oblique. This stadium is different from the circus because of its smaller size and the lack of the block and the obelisk.
The external facade was made of a double row of arcades resting on pilasters. The lower one was in the Ionic style and the higher in Corinthian, leading to an entrance on both sides.
Numerous marble groups and single statues, probably once situated in the upper arches or lodged in the niches of the rooms on the ground floor, were recovered near the Stadium.
The so-called Pasquino statue near Piazza Navona, located at the corner of via della Cuccagna and depicting the Patroclo and Menelao figures, has been traditionally linked to the decorations of the Stadium. The other statues were also found during different excavations made along the streets surrounding the monument.
|
 | | | I Municipio
Rione VI - Parione
Regio IX - Circus Flaminius
Piazza di Tor Sanguigna 13
(piazza Navona, via Zanardelli - corso Rinascimento).
HOURS:
Saturday and Sunday from 10a.m to 1p.m.
Reservations: tel./fax 06 67103819 |  |
|
