The contemporary historian Procopius describes the famine during the siege, in which the ordinary Romans, who were not rich enough to buy grain from the military, were reduced to eating bran, nettles, dogs, mice and finally "each other's dung".

[2] Pope Vigilius, who had fled to the safety of Syracuse, sent a flotilla of grain ships to feed Rome, but Totila's navy intercepted them near the mouth of the Tiber and captured the fleet.

[1] Totila finally entered Rome on 17 December 546,[1] after his men scaled the walls at night and opened the Asinarian Gate.

As the Goths cautiously advanced into the city, many of the defenders escaped through another gate; according to Procopius, only 500 were left who sought refuge in various churches; 26 soldiers and 60 civilians were killed.

[4] After defeating a force left behind by Totila, Belisarius decided to re-occupy Rome in the spring of 547 and hastily rebuilt the demolished sections of wall by piling up the loose stones "one on top of the other, regardless of order" according to Procopius.