TARGET
To ORGANIZE and LEAD
a guided tour of an archeological site
- The VILLA OF COLONNACCE in CASTEL DI GUIDO (Rome)
How can we organize a guided visit?
What are the topics to talk about?
What do you expect 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 agricultural and pastoral activities,
but also to productive activities and the administration of rural
property as opposed to the houses within the city
Aim of our guided tour
Geographic area: Characteristic roman building type 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
Decay
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 countryside tends to lose
population and the city becomes the center of
political and social activities,whereas the country is
still 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 the urban settlement,
flat, is cultivated directly by citizens
2. The area farther away from the town, hilly, is 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., the development of
land and cities changed in the territories under the
domain of Rome:
1. New residential foundations such as the oppida and
the vici: small settlements in 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 of the First Punic War period leads to an
increase of land use and slave labor.
Moreover many of the first colonists are forced to abandon the
land, go to war and sell their property to wealthy owners who can
thereby expand their possessions and lay the foundations of the
villa system.
The birth of the “villa
system”
Villa catoniana and Villa Varroniana
There are two types of Villa, also according to Pliny’s the Elder and
Vitruvius’ writings:
- the Villa catoniana, which is named after Cato’s De agri cultura
- the Villa varroniana, derived from Varro’s De re rustica
M. Porcio Catone
The statue of Marco Terenzio
Varrone in Rieti
Villa catoniana
This model of villa appears between the III and II century b. C.
and is characterized as a small countryhouse managed by a
farmer and easily reached from the city.
It spreads new agricultural crops (vine and olive), in addition to
traditional cereals, and we begin to see an evolution in the
architecture of the villa in order to fulfil its new function:
- To offer a valuable and fashionable space that may reflect the
cultural and social status 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. and is described by Varro
in De re rustica in 37 b.C..
The villa is the productive, administrative and residential center of a
real rural property, divided into:
- pars urbana, a residential area which can be more or less
monumental
- pars rustica where products are processed and preserved, which
is located near the pars urbana (there can also be a pars
fructuaria).
Some examples of the
activities: the press
Villa varroniana
The villa is characterized by an intensive use of the land
and marketing of the various products derived from
the diversification of crops and the use of slave force.
In fact, with the expansion of Rome it becomes much
easier to obtain slave workforce both as a consequence
of war and through the great Aegean and oriental slave
markets.
From at least the II century b. C. onwards 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 by the dominus in the
city.
Villa varroniana
Thank you everybody!
I hope you enjoyed the lesson
We’ll see you next Monday.