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 monumental entrance

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

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

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

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

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

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

The public and private rooms of the villa

The rural sacrifice

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

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

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

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

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

The Latifundium

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

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

Outdoor breakfast

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

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

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

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

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

The senses tell the Basilica

The protagonists of the mosaics

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

An eloquent symbol: the signum

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

The main nuclei of the Domus

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

A hidden meaning

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

A day of hunting at the villa

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

The apotheosis of Hercules

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

The senses tell the Vestibule

The senses tell the massage room

The catalogue of animals

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

The possible celebration of a solemn event

A small room embellished with marble

Worship of the Lares

The senses tell the frigidarium

Form of greeting or ritual?

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

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

Semi-public rooms