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 possible celebration of a solemn event

The main nuclei of the Domus

A small room embellished with marble

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

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

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

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

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

Outdoor breakfast

The senses tell the frigidarium

The protagonists of the mosaics

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

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

The senses tell the Basilica

A hidden meaning

The Latifundium

Form of greeting or ritual?

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

The public and private rooms of the villa

Semi-public rooms

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

The senses tell the massage room

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

The senses tell the Vestibule

Worship of the Lares

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

The senses tell the monumental entrance

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

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

An eloquent symbol: the signum

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

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

The apotheosis of Hercules

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

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

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

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

A day of hunting at the villa

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

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

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

The catalogue of animals

The rural sacrifice