The Villa was built on two large terraced platforms on the lower slopes of Monte Altuino, the lower terrace being the only one excavated to date. [3] The lower terrace is the "public" wing, used for visitors and entertainment, while the upper terrace is considered to be the "private" or residential wing.
Lower terrace
The lower terrace is a long rectangle (100 x 40 m) supported by a wall with massive buttresses, the cladding of which is in opus mixtum of brick latticework.
In the centre of the terrace is the garden, one of the focal points of the entire complex, surrounded by a peristyle and onto which face many rooms. At each end of the garden were two large semicircular basins with fountains and steps at the corners, entirely covered with slabs of white marble; both were flanked by a masonry base which perhaps supported a basin. [4]
To the west of the garden is the main building, the most imposing of the whole complex, and the one that has yielded the greatest number of finds of sumptuous stucco and marble decorations. The triclinium (summer dining room) (13 x 9 m) is in the centre, accessed by four doors spaced by large windows that open onto the side rooms. The entrance from the garden was framed by a pair of columns. On the back wall there is a nymphaeum consisting of three niches from which water poured into the pool below. The niches were framed by marble shelves, decorated with dolphins and tritons, on which were small columns supporting the decorated architrave. Above there was a mosaic band composed of glass-paste tesserae reflecting the sun's rays which, hitting the pool of water, created a play of light and colours on the surrounding walls in marble and stucco gold. The nymphaeum had an arch which created harmony and grace to the whole structure. The floor was decorated in colourful opus sectile, i.e. rectangular slabs of marble bordered by strips in giallo antico (antique yellow).
On both sides of the triclinium is a series of rooms of identical shape, size and function: first a large rectangular atrium (18 x 7.2 m), framed by a double pair of columns. The rooms at the back were intended for prestigious guests. These had two distinct entrances, one on each corner, placed on either side of the large window that overlooked the atrium-vestibule; the roof was a high barrel vault on massive brick pillars, while the floors were in opus sectile. The decoration of the walls (coloured marble and stucco) and the vault (frescoes) was extremely precious of which a large number of fragments have been found. [5]
The garden was surrounded on three sides (East-West-South) by arched and vaulted porticoes: to the South (long side towards the road) and to the East (one of the two short sides) columns are composed of brick half-columns covered with stucco. On the west side, however, the pillars were replaced by nine fluted columns and an architrave in cipollino marble on Ionic bases of white marble with wider intercolumns in the centre. The south portico constitutes the access corridor to the public wing, located in the western part of the terrace; the vault of this portico was decorated with continuous frescoes on a dark background with red ribs and a central oculus placed on the vertex, while the floor was covered in slabs of white marble. Evidence of this frescoed vault was the discovery of a substantial central portion of a clipeus depicting a Winged Victory, the deity who announced the outcome of battles, with sword and gold disc. To the south, along the road, the portico had large windows with a view over the magnificent landscape.
On the north side of the garden is the wall supporting the upper terrace, decorated by a succession of niches covered in marble from which water flowed. Shortly after the construction, however, these niches-fountains were walled up, probably due to their instability.
At the south-east corner an annex protruding towards the road is the vestibulum or main entrance of the villa from the via Praenestina below from which a staircase lead to the terrace.
The porticoes employed an architectural novelty, the flat arch, which allowed straight architraves to be used without expensive monolithic marble lintels. [6]
Stuccos
In monumental room XVIII overlooking the garden an enormous quantity of fragments of stuccos was found collapsed on the floor, clearly from the decorative band in the upper area of the walls and above the marble covering. They are of the highest artistic quality for the variety of subjects, execution technique and surface gilding, found only in imperial villas or those of patricians.
The stuccos were divided into rich bands decorated with geometric, floral or figurative motifs and panels with slender perspective architectures, within which are standing and seated figures of divinities. The architectural features stand out for the execution of details of the bases and pediments of the columns. [7]
Decorative Techniques
The transport and assembly of material and marble to this difficult and distant site from Rome was not an easy and inexpensive operation, only feasible with the imperial commission. Marbles from quarries in Italy and the African and Eastern provinces were often marked with engraved or red-painted inscriptions relating to the place of extraction and to the client. [8] The processing or finishing of the pieces took place on site: the assembly phases are documented by acronyms or numbers engraved on capitals, bases, shelves, to indicate the place where they were to be placed or were the initials of names; elsewhere were marks in black charcoal or drawings made by the workers, such as the donkey that appears on the reverse of a slab. An interesting graffiti, engraved with square and compasses, was discovered on a facing slab of room XIX depicting either a niche with an apsidal basin or the plan of an apsidal room.
