Villa dei Volusii
The Villa dei Volusii (Villa of the Volusier) or Villa dei Volusii Saturnini was a Roman villa rustica near Rome .
Location and discovery
The villa is located at the Feronia Ovest motorway service station at the junction from the Autostrada del Sole to Rome North. It is directly accessible from the parking lot of the rest area. The site belongs to the Autostrade per l'Italia motorway company . 500 meters away is the excavation site of the Roman city of Lucus Feroniae , which was dedicated to the goddess Feronia . The Villa di Volusii is in the municipality of Fiano Romano , whereas Lucus Feroniae belongs to the municipality of Capena .
During the expansion of the multi-lane motorway slip road, the remains of the villa were found in 1961. Between 1962 and 1971 the Soprintendenza Archeologia del Lazio e dell'Etruria meridionale carried out excavation work in collaboration with the motorway company Autostrade per l'Italia. At the same time as the road was expanded, extensive restoration work was carried out on the ruins. The ancient site was partially built over again by the motorway slip road and an access road. The access road was later removed. The numerous finds, including frescoes , sculptures , ceramics , inscriptions and coins , were housed in the nearby museum of Lucus Feroniae. The floor mosaics , however, were left on site and covered.
history
The villa belonged to the plebeian family of the Volusii ( Gens Volusia ), from which some praetors and senators had emerged. Even before the villa was discovered, it was known that the Volusii Saturnini were resident in Lucus Feroniae, as two inscriptions with the names of Gens Volusia and Lucius Volusius Saturninus (around 60 BC - 20 AD) had been found . This was known as Homo novus 12 BC. . AD under Emperor Augustus to Suffektkonsul ascended. His son of the same name Lucius Volusius Saturninus (38 BC - 56 AD) was born in 3 BC. Also suffect consul.
Finds of inscriptions in the villa identify them as property and probably also as property of the family since Republican times. It can therefore be assumed that Quintus Volusius Saturninus , the father of Lucius Volusius Saturninus, was around 50 BC. At the end of the Roman Republic a villa was built here for recreation. His son Lucius Volusius Saturninus and his grandson of the same name expanded the villa with further representative buildings in the early imperial period . The younger Lucius Volusius Saturninus had a son named Quintus , who became consul under Emperor Nero in 56 AD . His sons, who were again named Lucius and Quintus , became consuls in 87 AD and 92 AD under Emperor Domitian . After that, the Volusii disappeared from the annals . The villa remained the property of the Volusii until at least the time of Emperor Trajan .
In the middle of the 1st century AD, the villa was converted from a residential building to an agricultural estate, so it can be assumed that it was no longer owned by the Volusii. On the area, which probably stretched as far as the Tiber, wheat was now grown in addition to wine and olives. In the 3rd and 4th centuries, some repair work was carried out. In the 5th century the estate was probably abandoned and abandoned. In the 9th century, a medieval observation tower was built on the southern foundations, which is still preserved today and was part of a fortified structure. A few centuries later there was a farm on the site.
Excavation site
The villa as it is today was built in two sections. The older part dates from Republican times and includes the Hortus (1) and the atrium (2) with the adjoining rooms located directly on the motorway . In the hortus remains of the pillars can still be seen that supported a pergola . The living rooms are laid out with floor mosaics. The tablinum (4) and triclinium (5) could be identified with an unobstructed view of the atrium and then later to the newly created peristyle.
The renovation from the early imperial era mainly consisted of adding a large peristyle (5), which was probably used for representation purposes. Numerous uniform rooms were lined up on three sides of the peristyle, which perhaps served as storage, living and sleeping rooms. In the axis of the triclinium of the old wing, on the opposite side in the middle, there is a room (6) with a floor mosaic, which differs from the others in terms of its furnishings. It housed the facility for the cult of the household gods ( lares ) and ancestors, including an offering table and marble pedestals for the busts of the ancestors. An inscription was also walled up in this lararium , apparently from the year of death of the younger Lucius Volusius Saturninus and referring to special public honors of the deceased. A second inscription names Quintus Volusius Saturninus, who became consul in the year of his father's death.
After the imperial reconstruction and the expansion of the villa, the rooms around the atrium were partially used as utility rooms and provided with various fixtures. For example, the benches that are built into the tablinum along the north and east walls are later additions. They show that this space was given a new purpose. The triclinium was converted into a passage room.
After the building was rededicated as an agricultural property, slave quarters were located in the rooms of the peristyle. At the northern end of the peristyle were communal latrines with running water for flushing. Maybe the peristyle also served as a workshop ( ergastulum ). The rooms in the north (8) were probably used as storage. On the southern edge of the excavation you can see the remains of the substructures that supported other rooms of the villa.
literature
- Annalisa Marzano: Roman Villas in Central Italy: A Social and Economic History. Brill, Boston 2007, ISBN 9789004160378 , pp. 139-148.
- Anita Rieche : Ancient Italy from the air. 2nd edition, Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1987, ISBN 378570223X , pp. 232-238.
- Werner Eck : The family of the Volusii Saturnini in new inscriptions from Lucus Feroniae . In: Hermes . Vol. 100, No. 3 (1972), pp. 461-484.
Web links
- La villa dei Volusii on the side of the Soprintendenza Archeologia del Lazio e dell'Etruria meridionale
- Villa dei Volusii (pdf) on the website of the Istituto per le tecnologie applicate ai beni culturali
- Lucus Feroniae on the Romano Imperio page
Coordinates: 42 ° 8 ' N , 12 ° 36' E