Le Terme “di Nerone” a Pisa

The Baths “of Nero”, related to the emperor’s name because of an unjustified medieval tradition, are the only still partially standing building of the Roman town of Pisae. The archaeological investigations, which already started in the mid-16th century, carried out at the end of the 19th century and again in the 40s of the last century, when an archaeological area was created. Despite the several excavations, only a limited part of the Thermal building is known. The complex is differently dated between the last decades of the first century and the second century AD, considering the building techniques and architectural typologies. It is certain, however, that in the second half of the II century AD a member of the Pisan family of the Venuleii financed a restoration or an extension of the Baths as attested by an inscription. In 2017 new archaeological investigations, conducted by the “Civiltà e Forme del Sapere” Department of the University of Pisa, started to solve some of the numerous problems that still remain regarding the chronology, the phases of life, the plan and the function of some rooms of the Thermal complex.