The context - the Villa

The main nuclei of the Domus

It is interesting to note that although the whole construction fits the rooms, it tends to close the spaces rather than open them outwards.
This arrangement does not favour access to the surrounding landscape and is also made more evident by the tendency not to present structures on the same axis.
In reality, the Villa del Casale only appears to have an uncoordinated composition, since it encompasses a structural logic within its four main nuclei: the monumental entrance, the quadrangular peristyle and the rooms that gather around it, the thermal baths, the triapsidal hall and the ovoid portico, which appears to be an alternative space to the quadrangular one.

The main nuclei of the Domus

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

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

The possible celebration of a solemn event

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

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

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

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

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

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

A hidden meaning

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

Worship of the Lares

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

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

The apotheosis of Hercules

The senses tell the frigidarium

The senses tell the Basilica

Form of greeting or ritual?

Semi-public rooms

The protagonists of the mosaics

Outdoor breakfast

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

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

An eloquent symbol: the signum

The senses tell the monumental entrance

The public and private rooms of the villa

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

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

The Latifundium

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

The senses tell the Vestibule

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

A small room embellished with marble

The catalogue of animals

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

The senses tell the massage room

The rural sacrifice

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

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

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

A day of hunting at the villa

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

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

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