Monumental entrance

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

The still legible iconographic programme deals with military themes brought to light thanks to recent restorations .
On the plaster of the pillars flanking the side entrances are large rectangular paintings, two to the east and two to the west, which show traces of life-size figures. Among them are four narrower rectangular surfaces, in each of which a signum is painted, a military element carried by the centuriae in battle. The best preserved is the one located to the east, next to the right-hand fornix , and is distinguished by the presence of imagines, portraits inserted in a round frame, used for political or imperial propaganda.
The military theme is repeated on the frescoes that decorate the eastern wall of the square, animated by the residual colours of a procession of trotting knights, heading towards the figures at the entrance.

The rural sacrifice

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

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

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

An eloquent symbol: the signum

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

A hidden meaning

Form of greeting or ritual?

Outdoor breakfast

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

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

A day of hunting at the villa

The senses tell the frigidarium

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

The main nuclei of the Domus

The apotheosis of Hercules

Worship of the Lares

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

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

The senses tell the Basilica

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

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

The possible celebration of a solemn event

Semi-public rooms

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

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

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

The senses tell the massage room

The senses tell the monumental entrance

The catalogue of animals

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

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

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

A small room embellished with marble

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 Quadrangular Peristyle

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

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

The protagonists of the mosaics

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

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

The Latifundium

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

The senses tell the Vestibule

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

The public and private rooms of the villa