Domus Tiberiana

In 630 Onorio I ordered the transformation of the "Curia Iulia" into a church, nonetheless maintaining its original role of aula for the Senate’s meetings. In 1213 the bodies of the martyrs Nereo and Achilleo were taken here to underline the importance acquired by the church. A first radical restoration was ordered by Gregorio IX in1228, while in the mid C. XVII it was rebuilt by Martino Longhi. The actual aspect is especially due to the works from the first half of C. XX. The tympanum-based façade embodies three windows above the entry portal. The regularly spread holes one can notice probably witness the previous existence of a porch. The hollow next to the door date back to the Middle Ages and were used as burial places.The building owes its name to the assemblies of the "curiates", the citizens selected on the basis of the census, which took place at the Comizio; it was here that the first curia of Rome opened, the Curia Hostilia, built according to legend by Tullus Hostilius, third king of Rome in the 6th century BC.