Domus del Chirurgo

Beneath Piazza Ferrari lies the Domus del Chirurgo, a Roman townhouse frozen by disaster. Built in the later second century, it stood near Rimini’s old shoreline until a fire in the third century collapsed its roof and sealed the rooms. When a tree was uprooted here in 1989, mosaics, walls and a small surgery surfaced, along with an extraordinary bronze box of scalpels, probes, levers and medicine jars: the richest known surgical kit from antiquity, probably belonging to a Greek-trained doctor named Eutyches. Today visitors walk on glass walkways over hypocaust floors and treatment rooms, while the instruments shine in the city museum, turning a quiet square into a landmark of Roman medical history.

Discovered by accident in 1989 during roadworks for a park, the Domus del Chirurgo is one of the most significant archaeological finds in Northern Italy. It is the remains of a 2nd-century AD Roman house belonging to a wealthy military doctor (Eutyches), preserved under a layer of ash and rubble from a fire during a barbarian raid.

An exceptional piece of Roman history which has been perfectly preserved. The mosaics are stunning, but the site itself has a fascinating history in the evolution of its usage from Republic era, through the period of the 5 good emperors, crisis of the 3rd century to the emergence of Christianity and its impact through the Byzantine reconquests. Its nicely woved together with the plaques around the site, and the walkways means you can see closely any bits of interest. You also get access to the City Museum that is right around the corner included which has brilliant exhibitions - more mosaics, findings from this site, and reconstructions of the surgeons house as well as a host of exhibits on Rimini's late life.

One of the best places we have visited in Rimini, as is such a great place that you learn the history of the place that it was there from the 2nd century, but only discovered 35 years ago. Do take the time to read the signs, which are both on English and Italian. The price of the ticket of 5 euros it includes the museum della Cetta which is opposite the ruins and it has got a lot of the findings in there.

5 Euro entry. Its a interesting museum and its very cool to see the history like that just out in the open. Incredible its only been 30 years since the discovery. I love the idea of being able to walk over the ruins and being able to look at them beneath you its a very good idea. Its a very clean place. A little warm but thats probably for preserving the ruins better. The informational signs are very helpful and show things you wouldn’t have seen or known on your own. You could visit for 5 minutes or for aslong as you want. Is 5 euro a good price? In my opinion yes. It made me more knowledgeable about a very cool museum. I recommend a quick visit around 30 minutes read all the signs look at the house, the graves, the skeletons. Not sure if the skelotons are real or fake but they look very real. Even with the skeletons i think its a nice museum for all ages. 4 stars

This is a well presented archaeological site, but you need to go to the nearby museum on the same ticket to understand it fully. It's easily accessible but not completely obvious what you're looking at. You can see a fair bit from the piazza outside but it's worth going in.

Amazing place to go, it took me back in time. The funny thing is I was more interested to see the City Museum, but, once you pay the ticket for the museum you also can enter at Domus (5€), and I was so much more impressed by the Domus.

Fascinating Roman ruins. The ticket also gives you access to the museum across the street, which is well worth a multi hour visit.

The building is nice and cool and the walkways make it easy to have a close overview of all of the ruins without directly stepping on them. Sunday's offer free tickets to the city museums. So, we were able to get into the ruins for free. The mosaics are amazing and worth taking a few minutes to come check out.