The Villa Romana di Patti is a large and elaborate

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

located in the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of Patti in the

province of Messina Messina (, ) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital was the city of Messina. It was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Messina. Geography Territory It had an area of , which amounts to 12.6 percent ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. It was the seat of a rich

latifundium A ''latifundium'' (Latin: ''latus'', "spacious" and ''fundus'', "farm, estate") is a very extensive parcel of privately owned land. The latifundia of Roman history were great landed estates specializing in agriculture destined for export: grain, o ...

estate, which until its discovery had few known examples except for the

Villa Romana del Casale The Villa Romana del Casale ( Sicilian: ''Villa Rumana dû Casali'') is a large and elaborate Roman villa or palace located about 3 km from the town of Piazza Armerina, Sicily. Excavations have revealed one of the richest, largest, and varied ...

History and description

The villa was discovered in 1973 during construction work on a stretch of the A20 motorway, when part of the north side of the villa was destroyed. Although excavation is continuing and many rooms still need to be revealed, the general configuration of the villa is already quite clear. The original villa was constructed in the 2nd-3rd c. AD and was demolished to make way for a larger and much more elaborate villa built over it in the early 4th c. AD. The nucleus of the later villa consists of a

peristyle In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=f ...

surrounded by residential rooms, typical of the late Roman villa. The most representative rooms are, on the west wing, the particularly large Aula Absidata ("

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

hall") which recalls the

Piazza Armerina Piazza Armerina ( Gallo-Italic of Sicily: ''Ciazza''; Sicilian: ''Chiazza'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Enna of the autonomous island region of Sicily, southern Italy. History The city of Piazza (as it was called before 1862) developed ...

basilica, and on the south wing a tri-apsidal room where the peristyle overlooked the sea. The Aula Absidata contained a

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, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

floor now destroyed, but the mosaic floors of the peristyle and tri-apse are in excellent condition. The east–west orientation of the Aula Absidata, different to the north–south axis of the peristyle, raises doubts on its function and dating, suggesting that it might have been a church built after the owner had converted to Christianity. The mosaic of the peristyle consists of a grid of square panels inserted in a frame of continuous

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cherry laurel (''Prunus laurocerasus''). It is a s ...

es enriched with floral and ornamental motifs. The mosaic of the tri-apse includes octagonal and circular medallions with animals on curvilinear sides. The quality of both

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

mosaics is not very high, which indicates they were the product of a Sicilian workshop instead of

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

n craftsmen. In the north-east area a bath system had walls built using a different technique. The residence had been abandoned prior to the earthquake that affected Sicily in AD 365. After the earthquake between the sixth and seventh centuries, the remains of the villa were partly restored and there was continuing habitation at least until the tenth c. AD. The site has been re-covered in recent years by a special protective roof.Una struttura protettiva sui resti della villa romana di Patti Marina, Sandro Ranellucci, La Sapienza Università di Roma, ISSN 2035-7982 Relief from Villa di Patti

References

External links

Description on the website of the Region of Sicily
{{Archaeological sites in Sicily Buildings and structures completed in the 4th century BC Roman mosaics Pa Roman sites of Sicily

History and description

References

Further reading

External links