THE EASTERN SECTOR OF THE ROMAN VILLA

The rooms belonging to the south-eastern sector of the Roman villa have been interpreted as related to the pars rustica, i.e. the agricultural estate. Here there are a barrel-vaulted cistern with waterproofed walls (9) and a square room characterised by the presence of a basin (8). There is a small thermal facility (13 – 16), perhaps intended for the serfs, where a frigidarium, a caldarium and a changing room are recognisable. The SW side of this sector of the villa is made up of residential rooms (1 – 7), built in the III century A.D. Some of the rooms are decorated with mosaic floors. Of these, Room 1, with a rectangular plan, has a checkered motif in red and white; Room 2, E/W oriented, is decorated with braid and geometric motifs in white, red and yellow. Room 3 had a cocciopesto floor. These rooms, perhaps interpretable as pertaining to a dining room (triclinium), overlook a porticoed atrium with a tank for collecting rainwater (impluvium) and drainage systems at the centre (4). On the opposite side of the atrium, there are three small rooms (5–7) identified as tablina (bedrooms), originally floored in clay tessellation, of which nothing has survived.