In Rome, the thermal baths system had developed based on the therapeutic knowledge of Galenic medicine, which touted the benefits of sweating alternated with massage and hot and cold ablutions.
Depending on its function, the Roman baths had rooms with different temperatures and sizes.
The frigidarium is the coldest place on the route and the most monumental, if we think about the one at the Baths of Diocletian dating back to 300 AD during the Roman Empire.
At the Villa Romana del Casale, the Frigidarium also incorporated the changing rooms. In this place, open to the public, people would socialise in the two pools, still visible today, and perhaps even conclude business. It is known that emperors went to thermal baths and mingled with the common folk.
Who knows, perhaps this occurred in the late antiquity residence at Piazza Armerina!
