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.

A small room embellished with marble

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

The senses tell the monumental entrance

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

Form of greeting or ritual?

An eloquent symbol: the signum

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

Outdoor breakfast

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

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

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

Semi-public rooms

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

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

The Latifundium

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

The catalogue of animals

The public and private rooms of the villa

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

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

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

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

The protagonists of the mosaics

The senses tell the Basilica

The apotheosis of Hercules

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

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

The senses tell the frigidarium

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

The possible celebration of a solemn event

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

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

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

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

The senses tell the Vestibule

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

The rural sacrifice

The senses tell the massage room

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

A hidden meaning

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

A day of hunting at the villa

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

Worship of the Lares

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

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

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

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

The main nuclei of the Domus

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games