Private entrance to the baths

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

Smaller than other rooms of the Villa del Casale, the room is irregular in shape and located on the private path, north of the peristyle. The trapezoidal shape of the room, which has brickwork benches along the walls, suggests its use as a vestibule, waiting room or apodyterium .
The reading of the floor mosaic in which a richly dressed female figure stands out in the centre, accompanied by handmaidens and two male figures with flowing blonde hair, leads us to think of the representation of the domina as she prepares to enter the baths.Two objects stand out in the irregular corner of the background: a kantharos with a ribbed belly and a wooden throne, a cathedra, associated with individuals of particular standing.
A further clue to the exclusive and official use of the small space by the dominus and members of his family can be seen on the frescoed plaster of the walls, where we can still see the base of a geometric division with large coloured rectangles imitating a marble inlay.

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

An eloquent symbol: the signum

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

Semi-public rooms

A chariot race, set in the circus Maximus of Rome, connects the villa to the city and centre of power

The senses tell the monumental entrance

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

A small room embellished with marble

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

A small room represents one of the activities of the thermal bath route

The possible celebration of a solemn event

The senses tell the Basilica

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

A hidden meaning

A day of hunting at the villa

The main nuclei of the Domus

The senses tell the Vestibule

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

The Latifundium

Auspicious symbols and perhaps the initials of the commissioner’s name decorate the mosaic of the apsidal room

The protagonists of the mosaics

Is the profile of the dominus hidden among the scenes depicted in the mosaics?

High-ranking characters depicted in the mosaics of the apsidal niches of the frigidarium

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

The catalogue of animals

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

The golden age: hypotheses about the villa’s period of construction and clues

The senses tell the room in the private apartment known as “small hunt”

The apotheosis of Hercules

The senses tell the massage room

Form of greeting or ritual?

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

The late antiquity residence: locus amoenus and centre of administrative activities in the heart of Sicily

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

Worship of the Lares

Banquets and panegyrics enlivened the vast hall, against the background of a floor mosaic celebrating the feats of Hercules

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

The senses tell the bi-apsed ambulatory – Corridor of the “Great Hunt”

The public and private rooms of the villa

The realistic depiction of a spa procession with a high-ranking female figure

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

The senses tell the frigidarium

The marble from the regions of the empire to decorate the basilica

A large colonnaded portico, a place of connection between the rooms

The rural sacrifice

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

Outdoor breakfast

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars