The north-western sector of the Roman villa is occupied for the most part by a vast thermal complex built in the I century B.C. In the Roman world, baths were intended for body care and featured saunas and hot and cold water pools. The baths were also used for socialization and relaxing in the broadest sense of the term.
In the baths of Saturo, a porticoed courtyard (room 19) gave access to the different rooms. There was a room for the cold bath (frigidarium, room 9), one with lukewarm air (tepidarium, room 8) with a hypocaust heating system that served the heated swimming pool in the calidarium (room 4), changing rooms (apodyteria) and saunas (laconica) or body anointing rooms (unctoria, rooms 6 and 7). In the II century A.D., other pools were added for the frigidarium (room 11) and a new calidarium (room 10). A particularly interesting element of that time is a large rectangular swimming pool (room 1) covered in white marble. The pool, heated with a hypocaust, was also equipped with a metal container, which radiated heat into the room thanks to the circulation of warm water. As this type of swimming pools is quite rare due to the considerable quantities of fuel and water required, indicates the importance of the villa of Saturo and its owner.
The warm rooms of the villa were heated with a system known as hypocaust: the floors were supported by pillarets and hot air was generated by an oven (the praefurnium) located outside the room.
Indirizzo: Viale Saturo, 74020 Leporano TA
Telefono: 340 9247013
Email: parcosaturo@libero.it