The thermal baths

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

The square-shaped room, located between the frigidarium and the tepidarium , is decorated with a mosaic enlivened by the presence of five figures, arranged on two different levels.
In the upper one, a man with a particularly athletic build stands out, perhaps the dominus of the villa, flanked by two young servants; one engaged in a massage, the other with the related tools, a strigil and a round vial containing an aromatic ointment.
In the area below the mosaic, two other servants can be seen, whose name, shown in the vocative, is highlighted on the band of fabric covering their sides: Tite and Cassi.  Both are equipped with items used for massage. Titus has cream, the lomentum, inserted in a bucket, while Cassius, perhaps of Syrian origin due to his pointed headgear, is depicted with a brush and lotions, to perfume his master after the thermal bath.Roman culture gave great importance to bodily care and anointing, generally carried out at the end of the sequence of hot and cold baths.

The Latifundium

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

The rural sacrifice

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

A hidden meaning

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

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

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

The apotheosis of Hercules

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

A small room embellished with marble

The possible celebration of a solemn event

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

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

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

The main nuclei of the Domus

The senses tell the massage room

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

Outdoor breakfast

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

The senses tell the Basilica

The senses tell the monumental entrance

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

Worship of the Lares

The protagonists of the mosaics

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

Form of greeting or ritual?

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

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

A day of hunting at the villa

The public and private rooms of the villa

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

The senses tell the frigidarium

Semi-public rooms

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

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

The senses tell the Vestibule

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

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

The catalogue of animals

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

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

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

An eloquent symbol: the signum

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

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room