Professor Rita Volpe, Roma Tre University On January 14 1506 the statue group of the Laocoon was discovered in a vineyard on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. It was almost intact and recognized at once as the same work of art which Pliny the Elder considered one of the most beautiful creations of antiquity. The Laocoon quickly became one of the best known sculptural groups in the world, yet even today we ask where exactly that vineyard was located and precisely where the Laocoon was found. Our research into the find spot of the statue group began with the owner of the vineyard and the discovery of new archival documents, which have provided a definitive solution to the problem. The reconstruction of a landscape of Rome of the sixteenth century, populated by notaries, innkeepers, doctors and prostitutes throws light onto the ancient Rome in which the Laocoon was admired.