The Araldi school at the Palatine

“Hear, the emperor’s games are held!”. The short tunic surrounded by life, the stick with the two intertwined snakes attributed of mercury, the banner, the shoes, solemnly incede the head of the procession that winded into the Circus Maximus. Here they are, The heralds of the Princeps, the Praecones, in the Latin language.

From 3 February citizens and tourists will be able to see them by accessing beyond the gate that closes the southern propagations of the Palatine, right downstream of the remains of the Imperial Houses, first of all that of Augustus, and in the face of the esplanade of the Circus Maximus.

It was in fact implemented, restored and secured for the opening to the public La School Peer in which they trained and prepared public bandwalking – real officials, not slaves but free men – used to announce ceremonies and processions or to proclaim the winners of the races. They had been made up of colleges and officially recognized in their role in the service of the state.

In short, authoritative and popular, in short, a little the speakers of fans of the third century spectators after Christ. Why the pavement mosaic that portrays them -eight, arranged in two rows of four-fascinating in the precision of the details and in the elegance of the black and white cards, dates back to the era of the severe, while in the above Lacerto of parietal paintings, which is from 200-240 before Christ, Male characters, depicted at natural and tunic, appear between red columns.

From next week, therefore, the visitor will be able to go down the ramp just made and observe beyond a large window The Araldi room. More, he will be able to understand the configuration of the Schola, which was hidden from a wall, and which is made up of a vast rectangular courtyard, on which three vaulted environments in brick (curious detail, in the 1940s in the twentieth century under one of the Voltoni overlook A person lived).

The courtyard was closed by a porch. And in fact the trunk of a spoiled column in Cipollino marble is made to the ramp, while recent excavations have identified an interrupted apse, of the fifth century, with a function still to be investigated.
The opening of this site – fits into a project of the Colosseum park that includes analyzes along via dei Cerchi, To dispose of the size of the visitors, and which aims to pedestrianization of the same Via dei Cerchi, connecting the hill of the imperial buildings precisely with the long deputy to the bulk of the bullets – is the first of the ten interventions scheduled thanks to the funds of the PNRR intended for the park .

500 thousand euros were used and eight months of works for the safety and accessibility of the Schola were served. The charm of the place is also increased by the lighting system, which took advantage of the sponsorship of Iguzzini, leader in the sector. A “smart” bright solution, Giulio Scabin, Ital Sales Director de Iguzzini called it: the internal one is beneficial to a management through Bluetooth; The external one is connected to an astronomical watch that follows natural light.

Thus at sunset the majesty of the brick structures lights up, adding amazement to those who skirt the Circus Maximus. “The construction site, which has united archeology, restoration, lighting enhancement and accessibility, represents an interdisciplinary research and planning model, in which the archaeological investigations have provided new data for understanding the site, while the restoration has deceived lost colors and the Accessibility for everyone allows you to see the mosaic that gave its name to the building. The reopening of the Schola to the public, with didactic paths on Sunday and Monday (on Sunday access is free), starts a redevelopment path of the Palatine front facing the Circus Maximus, which will see further reopenings and new entrances by 2026 “, He says Alfonsina Russo, director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park.

Excavations and research will help to further understand the functions of the place, which then in the fourth century will become possession of the adjoining church of Santa Anastasia. The niches under the Voltoni had to contain religious subjects. AND A fresco, still not visible to the public, shows the Virgin and Child with a religious next to it.
And in fact, thanks to the PNRR funds, it was possible to resume many of the interrupted research investigations, after the discovery of the complex in the early twentieth century: the complex had removals until the v-vi century and plays the role of historical and topographical zipper between Palatine and Circus Maximum. Above the premises of the Heralds there was the landscape of the era of Domitian, the school of young people destined to hold the most important services of the imperial administration.

New excavations, announces the archaeologist Paola Quaranta, will be able to take place in the presence of the public. In a work in progress that emulsifies the imagination of us contemporaries, making us imagine the charisma of the emperors who appeared from the podium at the top of the Palatine and observed the start of the races in the Circus Maximus announced with great pomp by his praeones.