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.

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

The apotheosis of Hercules

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

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

A hidden meaning

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

The Latifundium

The public and private rooms of the villa

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

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

The senses tell the Vestibule

The rural sacrifice

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

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

A day of hunting at the villa

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

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

The senses tell the massage room

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

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

The catalogue of animals

Outdoor breakfast

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

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

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 senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

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

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

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

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

The possible celebration of a solemn event

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

Semi-public rooms

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

Worship of the Lares

The main nuclei of the Domus

The senses tell the monumental entrance

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

Form of greeting or ritual?

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

The senses tell the Basilica

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

The protagonists of the mosaics

A small room embellished with marble

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

An eloquent symbol: the signum

The senses tell the frigidarium

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