Domus Aurea
Emperor Nero's palace in Rome, the Domus Aurea, was rediscovered by chance in the late 15th century, buried in fifteen hundred years of land fill. Access into the palace's remains was from above, requiring visitors to be lowered into it using ropes as in a cave, or "grotte" in Italian. The palace's wall decorations in fresco and delicate stucco were a revelation.