Villa of the Statue (I.iii.23)
Location
Sublocation
Garden
Villa of the Statue
Keywords
- cisterns (plumbing components)AAT:300052558
- gutters (building drainage components)AAT:300052565
- mural paintings (visual works)AAT:300033644
- peristyles (Roman courtyards)AAT:300080971
- porticoesAAT:300004145
- mosaics (visual works)AAT:300015342
- pergolasAAT:300006783
- balneaAAT:300120377
- water bathsAAT:300248755
- atrium housesAAT:300005451
- atriums (Roman halls)AAT:300004097
- nymphaea (garden structures)AAT:300006809
- tesserae (mosaic components)AAT:300010730
- ceramic tileAAT:300010678
- opus sectile (visual works)AAT:300254462
- opus signinumAAT:300379969
- garden pavilionsAAT:300006819
- apsed triclinium
Garden Description
A villa dating from the first century B.C. to at least the time of Marcus Aurelius was discovered near the modern via Miramare in Barcola. It overlooked the sea to the west and had a portico at the south (Fig. 1: B), with rooms opening onto it. The main nucleus of the villa unfolded around a rectangular garden surrounded by porticoes on all four sides (the long sides measure 24.5 m.; the short ones 15.2; Fig. 1: U). A rectangular brick pool with a black mosaic pavement was in the north-east portion of the garden (Fig. 1: a). It pre-dates the portico, since it was partly destroyed by the paving of the north-east portico. A terminus post quem for the construction of the portico was determined by a coin of Nero, found inside the pool.
During nineteenth century excavations, fragments of two superimposed wall paintings were recovered in Room C. The outer layer is not well enough preserved to identify any subject, but the preserved fragments beneath show branches and leaves with colored backgrounds of light blue, red, yellow and white. It is, therefore, possible that this cycle of painting depicted a garden, echoing the view of the real plantings visible through the doorway.
North of the peristyle was the bath quarter (Fig. 1: G, H, I, M, P), but it is not completely clear how the two parts of the villa were connected. In a partially excavated Tuscan type atrium (G) with an impluvium, several fragments of a marble torso were recovered, possible from a copy of the Polykleitan Doryphoros or Diadumenos. On the west side of the villa facing the sea was a porticoed garden (Z) and large semicircular exedra (24 m in diameter). Under the mosaic floor of this exedra are traces of an earlier room (Fig. 1: a) with a mosaic floor. On axis with the center of the exedra and garden was a triclinium (6.2 x 12 m) with a black-and-white mosaic floor. Another exedra (7.5 x 15 m), with a black-and-white mosaic floor, had large windows looking to the sea, and beside it a staircase leading to the water's edge and to a dock.
Dates
100 B.C.
Excavation Date
19th century
Bibliography
- M. De Franceschini, 1998, Le ville romane della X regio: Venetia et Histria. Catalogo e carta archeologica dell'insediamento romano nel territorio, dall'età repubblicana al tardo impero, Roma.(worldcat)