ROME, Jan 16: After three years of restoration, Italy reopened a third-century dwelling on Wednesday that gives a rare glimpse of how middle-class Romans lived — in rooms adorned by frescoes and courtyards replete with fountains.

Rome’s “case Romane al celio”, a complex of 20 rooms, was discovered in 1887 under the Basilica of Saints John and Paul, but was forced to close when one courtyard collapsed and mould started to eat away at the frescoes.

“The reopening of the site will allow visitors to Italy to see another side of Roman history,” Elio Paparatti, the city’s head restorer, said at the opening.

“Like the Colosseum, most of the Roman ruins we have found are imperial monuments or palaces. This is a dwelling that shows how a different social class lived,” he said.

The “case Romane”, or “Roman houses”, is also thought to be the home where Saints John and Paul, army officers who were martyred under Emperor Julian the Apostate in 363, were put to death and buried. The basilica was built on top of the site to honour them.

But most importantly, the restored dwelling shows how Italy’s middle-class ancestors lived, Paparatti said.

They painted rusty red and yellow frescoes on their walls, depicting fruit-picking cupids, nude young men, birds, goats and mythological scenes.

In the “nymphaeum”, an open air internal courtyard that was once equipped with fountains, a fresco portrays the Greek goddess Persephone surrounded by cupids sailing boats in a green-grey sea.—Reuters