The context - the Villa

Semi-public rooms

A room for semi-public use, on the other hand, had to have the quadrangular peristyle , the large portico, embellished with columns, on whose perimeter the rooms of the main nucleus of the villa overlook.
From this area of connection and passage begins the descending or private path in the west that contrasts with the opposite and ascending path in the east, which leads to the public spaces, although the distinction is not so strict. It is useful to remember, from recent studies, how the term “private” differs from the most common meaning associated with the Latin world.
In the case of this late antiquity domus with its extensive volumes, it is possible to identify reserved places, such as the ovoid peristyle and the triapsidal triclinium , used to host important guests, and not necessarily limited to an official setting.Moreover, in both public and private paths, the presence of geometrically decorated floor mosaics in the central nucleus distinguishes the service spaces arranged around sections that can be identified as apartments reserved for the dominus and his family.Finally, there are rooms with a dual use, such as the thermal baths, open to the public thanks to an external entrance, but which can also be accessed through the residential area of the villa that runs along the descending path.

Form of greeting or ritual?

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

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

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

The main nuclei of the Domus

A day of hunting at the villa

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

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

The senses tell the Vestibule

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

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

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

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

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

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

Outdoor breakfast

The senses tell the Basilica

The catalogue of animals

The apotheosis of Hercules

Worship of the Lares

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

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

A small room embellished with marble

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

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

The public and private rooms of the villa

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

The senses tell the massage room

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

The senses tell the frigidarium

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

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

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

The rural sacrifice

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

Semi-public rooms

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

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

The protagonists of the mosaics

The possible celebration of a solemn event

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

A hidden meaning

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 paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

An eloquent symbol: the signum

The Latifundium