C. Antonine age (first half of II century A.D)
In this phase the Atrium is renovated and restricted. The renovations were performed in
opus latericium
Renovations are also present in the thermal areas and in the oil press, where a new
Calcatorium was built.
Calcatorium from an archaeological site
Calcatorium, model reconstruction
To this phase should be attributed many of the walls
covered with fresco preserved during the excavation,
now exhibited at Palazzo Massimo in Rome
D. Late ancient age (end of III-IV century A.D.)
Even if this phase, in the current state of the excavation, appears to
have left few traces, however it seems certain that the area around the
tank was used again also for productive structures and furnaces.
In the southern side of the tank and south of the oil press more
rooms were obtained, one of which shows traces of a floor mosaic
with meander motive
Example of mosaic with labyrinth
theme from Rimini
The mosaics can be:
- with little black and white tiles
with simple motifs
- colored tiles with spirals, braids
and flowering shoots.
The floors of the Villa
Floor in brick, fishbone
braid made; this is what
is called opus spicatum
Example of floor from Mercati di
Traiano, Rome
Other ones instead were made with marbles
of different colors, cut in geometric shapes:
this is what is called opus sectile
Catalogue of styles in opus sectile
Example of floor
from Ercolano
The floors of the villa
What do we mean by “COCCIOPESTO”?
Example of a floor in
cocciopesto from Baia (Naples)
Cocciopesto is a building material used as waterproof covering for floors, both
internal and external, but also for covering walls (for example tanks).
COMPOSITION: fragments of clay-bricks or crushed shingle and cement.
It’s made with different layers, that are beaten and wet many times.
It’s used from the Roman age as waterproof covering of tubs or cisterns or floors.
The technical term is opus signinum
The PARS RUSTICA
• South-eastern sector
1. In communication
with the Atrium, the
rectangular space
without floor existing
from ancient times,
had a central shaft (2)
identified as deposit
provided with a
wooden roof supported
by three columns, the
foundation of which
remains.
We can recognize a
republican phase with
opus incertum
1
2
3. This other space, at a
higher level, shows a
complex with the wine
press as a quadrangular
place with floor in opus
spicatum connected to
another room (4) which
presents at the center
the torcular, provided with a
draw covered with
cocciopesto, wherein flowed
the liquid, at first pressed in
a little calcatorium (
covered with cocciopesto as
well) before being collected
into the tank.
Here we find a
large courtyard
fenced and
heavily affected
by modern
works; inside it
many fragments
of dolia were
found.
(doliarium)
• Rectangular space 42: floored in
opus spicatum, shows traces of a tub
and the draw of water. At the north
there is a large water tank, added
during the I century. A.D. and
realized in opus reticulaum.
The floor covered with cocciopesto
shows traces of re-using; there are the
bases of three internal pillars made
of bricks and covered with plaster.
From a corner of the floor, a hole
conveyed the water to an external
fountain made out of a big dolio
during the late ancien age of the
complex.
The opposite corner, on the contrary,
is affected by an acces opened at a
later date and probably for a different
use from the tank.
Fountain
Space 41: still preserves
traces of the floor mosaic of
the IV cent. A.D. with large
white and black tiles with a
meander motive and was
created in the last phase of
the life of complex
•Further east ,always during
the late antiquity, a small
space(8) whitout access was
obtained, full of marble
fragments belonging to
architectural elements
(maybe a deposit of
limestone).
8
41