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Casignana is a ''
It was an extensive luxurious ''villa maritima'' located on the seashore and probably on the ancient road linking
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comune
A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...
'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria
The province of Reggio Calabria () was a province in the Calabria region of Italy. It was the southernmost province in mainland Italy and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. The capital was the city of Reggio.
It w ...
in region of Calabria
Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
, 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 ...
and located about east of Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...
.
It is best known for the monumental 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 ...
villa at Palazzi di Casignana which can be visited.
Roman Villa at Palazzi di Casignana
It was an extensive luxurious ''villa maritima'' located on the seashore and probably on the ancient road linking Locri
Locri is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, southern Italy. Its name derives from that of the ancient Greek region of Locris. Today it is an important administrative and cultural center on the Ion ...
and Rhegion
Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As of 2025, it has 168,572 ...
(Reggio Calabria).
The residential part of the villa has rooms arranged around a large peristyle courtyard. The "room of the four seasons" and apsidal room have mosaic floors.
On the opposite side of the modern road is a richly decorated large private bath complex. Mosaic floors include the frigidarium ("room of the Nereids") dated to the 3rd century which depicts a marine thiasos
In Greek mythology and religion, the ''thiasus'' was the ecstatic retinue of Dionysus, often pictured as inebriated revelers. Many of the myths of Dionysus are connected with his arrival in the form of a procession. The grandest such version wa ...
in large white and green tiles with four female figures riding a lion, a bull, a horse and a tiger terminating in a fish tail. The room has an octagonal plan with four apsidal sides and has two basins for cold water. The calidarium with a hypocaust heating system and clay pipes on the walls, also has an octagonal plan and mosaic flooring in small tiles and must have been covered by a vault. The complex also includes a rectangular hall paved with coloured marble slabs (opus sectile).
There is a monumental nymphaeum with cisterns.
The Roman statio
A statio (Latin for "position" or "location") is the place where, in the Roman Rite, a devotion to the stations of the Cross is celebrated.
On specific station days, on which in the Late Roman Catholic liturgy of the Late Antiquity a devotion ...
of Altanum was also located at the villa.Francesca Le Pera, Le stazioni di sosta in Calabria tra Tardoantico e Altomedioevo. Università degli studi di Siena
Festivals
*On 16 August the festival of San Rocco is held. Many rides, food and fun activities surround the town on this special day. It is celebrated by carrying the statue of San Rocco around the town as a symbol of his travels then entering the statue in the church symbolises his canonisation as a saint. *Easter
Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
day is celebrated by reenacting the frunttata (resurrection of Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
Christ) with holy icons
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, saints, and angels. Although especially ...
and statues followed by mass and the sacrifice of a lamb to represent the death Of Christ.
*After Easter day it is paquarella; on this day it is time to go into the country and harvest the wheat and crops of that summer. It also is a time to picnic in Aspromonte National Park
Aspromonte National Park is situated in the southern section of the Apennines, in Calabria, Italy.
The park lies near the sea and includes mountain summits with altitudes close to 2000 meters (Montalto (Aspromonte), Montalto is 1,955 m).
The p ...
to eat all the leftovers of the Easter celebration.
Demographic evolution
References
Image:Casignana-1-.gif Cities and towns in Calabria Roman sites of Calabria {{Calabria-geo-stub