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 tourA 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

Geographic area: Characteristic roman building type spread throughout the conquered territory

Chronology

Aim of our guided tour

VI century

b.C.

Encoding of the model and first

examples

Villa catoniana Villa varroniana

IV century

b.C.

III century

b.C.

II century

b.C.

I century

b.C.

Icentury

A.D.

III century

A.D.

IV century

A.D.

V century

A.D.

VI century

A.D.

Decay

0

The exploitation of the territorybefore 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 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

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 VarronianaThere 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

Slaves during their domestic activities Rural life and farming

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

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

Villa varroniana

Thank you everybody!

I hope you enjoyed the lesson

We’ll see you next Monday.