[1] The theatre was located on the right bank of the Tiber in the Ager Vaticanus in the horti of Agrippina the Elder (inherited by her grandson Nero), the same area where Caligula had built his circus.

[4] Suetonius writes that during the Neronia festival the emperor promised to exhibit himself in hortis ("in the gardens"), an indirect reference to his theatre.

[1] In the Middle Ages the area of the theatre became the site of handicrafts and activities related to the arrival of pilgrims, as evidenced by the discovery of moulds for rosaries, bone objects crafted to create musical instruments and furniture hinges, jugs, glass chalices used as liturgical furnishings and ceramic material, and two pilgrim insignia (showing the Holy Face of Lucca and Notre-Dame de Rocamadour).

[2] Several road tracks were also found, connecting the site to the Portus Maior, the landing place on the Tiber downstream of Ponte Sant'Angelo.

The scaenae frons was oriented toward the west with columns of the Ionic order, walls enrobed in white and coloured marble and stucco covered in gold leaf, as in the Domus Aurea.