Varignano Roman Villa is an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

residence located in

Varignano {{Use dmy dates, date=May 2024 Varignano is a frazione of the town of Porto Venere in the province of La Spezia, located on the western part of the Gulf of La Spezia. Territory The territory of Varignano is circumscribed to a short piece of the ...

, now a

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

of the town of

Porto Venere Porto Venere (; until 1991 ''Portovenere''; ) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) located on the Ligurian coast of Italy in the province of La Spezia. It comprises the three villages of Fezzano, Le Grazie and Porto Venere, and the three islan ...

in the province of

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Its site is marked by an archaeological museum.

History

Its first construction phase dates back to the 1st century BCE, primarily consisting of a house surrounded by a farm linked to

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

production. The site is situated beside the Seno del Varignano Vecchio, overlooking the sea, near the santuario delle Grazie, and to the northeast, the Fortezza del Varignano. Its main area, the ''pars urbana,'' and the productive area, the ''pars fructuaria,'' were separated by a courtyard used for 'torcularium,' where olives were pressed for their oil. The owner's residence was single-story, featuring

atria Atria may refer to: Science *Atrium (heart) (plural: atria), an anatomical structure of the heart *Atria (genus), a flatworm genus in the family Dendrocoelidae * Atria (star) or Alpha Trianguli Australis, a star in the constellation Triangulum Aus ...

paved with

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s, living rooms, and bedrooms. The olive oil processing area contained two presses and a 'cella oleario' that were active until the 1st century AD. At that time, olive oil production ceased, and the

vilicus In ancient Rome, the ''vilicus'' (, ''epitropos'', or ''oikonomos'') was a manager, supervisor, or overseer. Ausonius in 4th-century Bordeaux writes that his "pretentious" ''vilicus'' preferred to be called by the Greek title ''epitropos''. In ...

underwent a major rebuild, including the construction of a set of heated rooms and private frigidaria. The cistern associated with these rooms is considered almost unique among similar buildings in northern Italy. This residence remained active until the 6th century.

References

{{authority control Archaeological museums in Italy Roman villas in Italy Roman sites of Liguria National museums of Italy