TARGET
To REALIZE and LEAD
a guided tour of an archeological site
- The VILLA OF COLONNACCE to CASTEL DI GUIDO (Rome)
How can we organize a guided visit?
What are the topics to talk about?
What do you espect when you participate in a visit?
Aim of our guided tour
A Roman villa
●
What is a villa: the latin term refers to the building essentially
destined to housing and to the agricultural and pastoral
activities, also for productive activities and the administration
of rural property as opposed to the houses within the city
Aim of our guided tour
Geographic area: Characteristic building of roman culture
spread throughout the conquered territory
Chronology
Encoding of the model
and first examples
IV
century
b.C.
Villa catoniana
I
century
A.D.
II
century
b.C.
Villa varroniana
Abandon
IV
century
A.D.
VI
century
A.D.
0
VI
century
b.C.
III
century
b.C.
I
century
b.C.
III
century
A.D.
V
century
A.D.
The exploitation of the territory
before the villas
Starting from the VI century b.C., with the
establishment of cities, the countrysides tend to lose
population and the city became the center of
political and social activities; instead the country
was the center of economic activities, related to the
exploitation of agricultural and pastoral resources
The exploitation of the territory
before the villas
The use of territorial resources was managed in two
different ways:
1. The area in direct contact with urban settlement, flat,
and cultivated directly by citizens
2. The area at the edge of the town, hilly, was used for
breeding, extensive cultivation and timber harvesting
The exploitation of the territory
before the villas
The exploitation of the territory
before the villas
Starting from the IV century b. C., in the territories
under the domain of Rome, it change the way of using
the lands and around the cities develop:
1. New residential foundation as the oppida and the
vici: small settlement of the countryside
2. Allocation of plots of land to colonists or to war
veterans who could use the resources according to
their needs
Examples of land allocation
The birth of the “villa
system”
The political expansion related to the period of the First Punic
War, leads to an increase of land use and slave labor.
Moreover many of the first colonists are forced to abandon the
land, going to war and selling their property to wealthy owners
that, in that way, can expand their possessions and lay the
foundations of the establishment of the system of villa.
The birth of the “villa
system”
Villa catoniana and Villa Varroniana
There are two types of Villa, also according to Plinio il Vecchio and
Vituvio writings:
- the Villa catoniana, wich takes its name from De agri cultura of
Catone
- the Villa varroniana, from De re rustica of Varrone
M. Porcio Catone
Marco Terenzio Varrone statue in
Rieti
Villa catoniana
This model of villa states between the III and II century b. C.
and is marked as a small countryhouse handled by a factor, and
easily reached from the city.
It spread new agricultural crops (the vine and olive), in addition
to traditional cereals, and we begin to see an evolution in the
architecture of the villa, which adapts itself to new functions:
- offer residential spaces of most value to form a picture of the
culture and social level of the dominus.
Villa catoniana
Rural life and farming
Slaves during their domestic activities
Villa varroniana
This model belongs to the I century b. C., described by Varrone in
the 37 b. C. in De re rustica.
The villa is the production, administrative and residential center of a
real rural property, divided into:
- pars urbana, residential area which could be more or less
monumental
- pars rustica destined at products processing and conservation
which was located near the pars urbana (there could be also a
pars fructuaria).
Some examples of the
activities: the press
Villa varroniana
The villa is characterized by an intensive use of the land
and the strong marketing of products; also for the
diversification of the crops and from use of slave force.
In fact, thanks to the Rome expansion became much
easier to obtain workforce of slaves especially after the
war defeat or purchased through the great slave
markets of the Aegean and the Orient.
Since at least the II century b. C., the villa is already
used as a place for relax (otium) and escape from the
ordinary activities and business (negotium) of public
and social life practiced in the city by dominus.
Villa varroniana
Thank you everybody!
I hope you enjoyed the lesson
We’ll see next Monday.