The courtyard area welcomed all those who for various reasons went to the domus, including the
Clientes
who, once admitted, waited to enter the vestibule and offer the
Salutatio
matutina to the Dominus of the Villa.
Those who were allowed to stay in the courtyard could use the services connected to it: the large
porticoed latrine
, sheltered from onlookers by a high wall and located to the west in the external area of the building and the
thermal baths
, which could be accessed through two small rooms, one of which named the
Aedicula of Venus
, due to the fragments of a statue of the goddess found here and in the adjoining passage room.
The composition of the two spaces denotes the architectural arrangement created to provide the thermal baths with an external entry not previously envisaged.
The two adjoining spaces connect the portico of the courtyard to the thermal baths through a series of steps, placed between the various rooms, to offset the difference in height.
To access the thermal baths, a passageway was created with the biapsidal hall, the “gymnasium”, extending a previous window symmetrical to the one in the opposite apsidal vault.