A term borrowed from linguistics, it is used to mean when two or more parts are placed next to or alongside each other, so as to form a composition that alters the overall form and creates a contrast....

The triclinium can be considered the dining room of the Roman domus, and refers more to a reception room for guests. Its name comes from its furniture, consisting of lecti triclinaris, i.e. large sofas that could accommodate up to three people, where the Romans would eat lying down. The hall, which...

The large quadrangular atrium in the centre of the house is the peristyle. It is surrounded by a portico that connects and gives access to the various rooms of the Roman domus. The peristyle usually includes a garden embellished with statues, fountains and resting places....

The Antonine Itinerary is a collection of routes crossing every region in the Roman Empire, from Britannia to Byzantium. Its purpose has been the subject of various interpretations, perhaps as a testimony of the Roman mail system or a record of a series of imperial journeys. T his important documen...

The vestibule constitutes the entrance or antechamber of the Roman house, but over time its location has differed in different kinds of dwellings. In the domus italica with an atrium and hortus and in the Hellenistic domus, both found in the Republican period, there is a consecutive succession of r...

In Gerace, in the territory of Enna, around 15 km from the Villa del Casale, some rooms of a villa with mosaic floors have been found, connected to some furnaces and a thermal bath system. The complex, currently being excavated by the University of British Columbia in Canada, dates back to the seco...

The Antonine Itinerary, a list of roads of the Roman Empire with their distances and intermediate stops, was drawn up in the 2nd century AD, with one version dating back to the 4th century AD. For Sicily, it indicates the presence of the mansio Philosophiana on the internal road connecting Catina an...

The latifundium is alarge agricultural plot of land, usually belonging to a single landowner. There was at least one large farm, called pars or villa rustica in Roman times, plus several houses for settlers and accommodation for the many slaves, who were essential for work in the fields. The owner ...

The villa’s sector, located near the main residence, at the service of this and the territory is formed of areas for agricultural production, accommodation for the farmer, the vilicus, servants and other workers of the fundus, but also buildings for processing and storing products (mills, wine cel...

The villa rustica was used in the late Republican period (2nd to 1st century BC) as the residence of landowners directly overseeing farming activities. With the passing of time, in the imperial age and in the late antiquity period (from the 1st to the 4th century AD) the villa rustica took on the c...