The Domus del Chirurgo

Rimini's Roman surgeon's house, its mosaics, and one of the most complete sets of ancient medical instruments ever found

Roman Rimini • The Surgeon's House • Piazza Ferrari

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🏛️ The Domus at a Glance

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Where

Piazza Ferrari, in the old town

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What it is

A Roman surgeon's house under glass

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Uncovered

Found in 1989, now open to visitors

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The finds

Instruments and mosaics in the Museo della Città

🧭 Why Visit

Under a glass canopy on Piazza Ferrari lies one of the best-preserved Roman houses in northern Italy, and the reason to come is what was found inside it. A doctor worked here in the second century, and when fire took the house his surgery was sealed under the rubble: scalpels, forceps, probes and bone levers, one of the most complete sets of surgical instruments ever recovered from the Roman world. The floors kept their mosaics, and the whole site sits a short walk from the beach that most visitors never leave.

🏛️ A Little History

The house was built in the second century and fitted out as a comfortable town home with mosaic floors and painted walls. Around the middle of the third century a fire destroyed it, and the collapse preserved the rooms and their contents where they fell. The site lay unknown until 1989, when work on the public gardens uncovered it. It was excavated over the years that followed and opened to visitors under a protective roof.

💡 Did You Know?

The surgeon's instruments were complete enough that scholars could reconstruct how a Roman doctor actually worked, including a spoon of the kind used to draw out arrowheads. The finds, the mosaics and a hoard of coins are displayed a few steps away in the Museo della Città, which also holds the permanent collection of René Gruau, the Rimini-born artist who defined the look of Dior.

Sealed by the Fire

The Excavation & Its Mosaics

The rooms and floors of the Roman house, kept where the fire of the third century brought them down.

Excavated Roman house of the Domus del Chirurgo under a glass canopy in Rimini
The house under glassThe excavated rooms sit under a protective roof on Piazza Ferrari.
Roman mosaic floor and foundation walls at the Domus del Chirurgo excavation in Rimini
A room laid bareMosaic floors and foundation walls, left where the fire brought them down.
Roman mosaic floor of hexagons with an animal border at the Domus del Chirurgo
The hexagon mosaicGeometric panels and a border of animals, one of the great floors of the house.
Black and white geometric Roman mosaic floor at the Domus del Chirurgo Rimini
Circles and knotsA geometric floor in black and white, still sharp after eighteen centuries.
Patterned Roman mosaic floor beside a fallen column drum at the Domus del Chirurgo
Under a fallen columnA patterned floor beside a toppled column drum.
In-situ Roman mosaic floor and painted wall at the Domus del Chirurgo Rimini
The mosaic and the wallA floor still in place beside a stretch of the painted Roman wall.
The Fullest Kit in the Roman World

The Surgeon's House

The doctor's reconstructed consulting room and the surgical instruments the collapse preserved.

Reconstructed Roman medical cabinet and table in the surgeon's room at the Domus del Chirurgo
The instrument cabinetShelves of tools and remedies as the doctor would have kept them.
Wide view of the reconstructed Roman surgeon's room at the Domus del Chirurgo Rimini
Where he workedThe reconstructed consulting room, walls and floor and all.
Display of Roman surgical instruments found at the Domus del Chirurgo Rimini
The doctor's kitScalpels, probes and forceps, the most complete Roman set ever found.
Tray of Roman bronze and iron surgical instruments from the Domus del Chirurgo
Bronze and ironA tray of surgical tools recovered from the burnt house.
Case of Roman bronze surgical instruments and fragments from the Domus del Chirurgo
Sealed by the fireThe collapse buried the surgery and kept its instruments together.
A Few Steps Away

In the Museo della Città

The finds are displayed beside the excavation on Piazza Ferrari, with the mosaics and the coin hoard.

Scale model of the Domus del Chirurgo Roman house in the Museo della Citta Rimini
The house in miniatureA scale model shows the domus as it stood before the fire.
Hoard of Roman coins from the Domus del Chirurgo displayed in the Museo della Citta
The coin hoardA pocketful of Roman coins found in the ruins.
Framed Roman mosaic of exotic animals in the Museo della Citta Rimini
Exotic animals in stoneA framed mosaic of animals from the Rimini collection.

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Visiting the Domus

  • The excavation and the Museo della Città share Piazza Ferrari, so one stop covers the house, the instruments and the mosaics.
  • Come for the mosaics as much as the medicine; the floors are among the finest Roman work on the Adriatic coast.
  • Pair it with the old town: the Tiberius Bridge, the Arch of Augustus and Piazza Cavour are all a short walk away.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Domus del Chirurgo?
A Roman house of the second century, excavated on Piazza Ferrari in Rimini, that belonged to a doctor. A fire sealed his surgery under the rubble and preserved one of the most complete sets of medical instruments found anywhere in the Roman world, along with the house's mosaic floors.
Where are the finds kept?
The instruments, the coins and the loose mosaics are displayed in the Museo della Città, a few steps from the excavation on Piazza Ferrari. The house itself stays where it was found, under a protective canopy you can see from the square.
Why is it famous?
For the completeness of the surgical kit, which let scholars reconstruct Roman medicine in detail, and for the quality of the mosaics, including a polychrome floor of Orpheus among the animals.
Is it worth visiting?
If you have any interest in Roman life, yes. It is one of the best-preserved Roman houses in northern Italy, it is compact, and it sits in the old town a short walk from the beach.

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