Aeneas and his companion Achates go ashore on the African coast after a storm. Venus, goddess of love and mother of Aeneas, appears in front of them, dressed as a huntress, but she leaves immediately after taking Ascanio (son of Aeneas, also called Iulo) with her.
Cupid, god of love, takes possession of Iulo's body who, together with his father, is regally welcomed by Dido, queen of Carthage. Thanks to Cupid, Aeneas and Dido fall in love.
On the other wall Mercury, wing-footed messenger of the gods, appears to Aeneas ordering him to leave Carthage and to continue his journey to Lazio, in Italy.
From Iulo and his wife Lavinia will descend the Gens Iulia, that is, the family of Julius Caesar and Augustus. Hence the Romans descend from the Trojans and have both regal and divine origins.
Vulcan, the god of fire painted in chiaroscuro, is inside his forge. In presence of Venus, he is supervising his blacksmiths who mould the weapons for Aeneas.
The triumph of Venus was depicted on the ceiling, partially destroyed by an aerial bombing in 1944.