Faragola Roman villa

History

The villa was built on the remains of a Daunian settlement from the 4th - 3rd century BC and a Roman villa rustica of the 1st-3rd century AD.

The later villa had two main phases: the first of the 3rd-4th century with a large peristyle and an atrium, with numerous rooms arranged around it; then in the 5th-6th century, greatly modified, partially reusing the rooms and spaces of the previous villa, with the addition of large baths, a spectacular summer dining room (cenatio), numerous service rooms and an increase in height, with residential rooms located on the upper floor, typical of late antiquity models.

It belonged to a senatorial family, perhaps a branch of the Cornelia gens according to an inscription.

The villa is evidence that the area enjoyed a long period of relative tranquility and security during the "Crisis of the Third Century" and also over the next century, unlike the central-northern regions which experienced economic decline and rural depopulation. The fortunate central position of this area in the Mediterranean and the good land and sea network were decisive factors for the investment by the rich Roman senatorial aristocracy and local notables in the 4th and 5th centuries, and for the holding of the imperial property which was significant in this area. This territory experienced an economic boom and a significant growth in the rural population, with the numerous villas, farms, villages, churches and rural dioceses identified by surface reconnaissance and aerial photography. It was one of the last enclaves, between the 5th and 6th centuries, of great estates and of economic development linked to agriculture, livestock farming, craftsmanship and trade, while elsewhere in Italy the system was crumbling.

It seems to have been abandoned around the second half of the 6th century, with subsequent complex phases of occupancy which lasted at least until the mid-second half of the 9th century. The cause, as of all the late antique villas in the area, appears connected to the political-military instability first of the Greek-Gothic war and, after the Byzantine reconquest, to the long phase of Langobard penetration leading to the progressive thinning and disappearance of the Roman aristocratic class …

The site

The remains of the first phase of the later villa show that it was large and very luxurious. The residential nucleus was where the large cenatio was built later. It had a large porticoed peristyle and the original baths at the South-West. The peristyle has an overall area (approx. 1225 m2) that puts it in the group of larger villas to which, for example, those in Piazza Armerina and Patti Marina belong.

Along the western arm of the peristyle a series of rooms (97, 98, 99) were probably pre-existing, incorporated and restructured at the same time as the monumental garden with raising of the paths and movement of the entrance to the rooms on the eastern side, with a direct opening onto the portico.

An atrium (66) was surrounded by a portico (61, 64, 65).

Many of the rooms (67, 68, 69, 70) and some rooms of the baths (14, 18, 25, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 31) were abandoned around the second half of the 4th century AD, while others, such as the baths and the eastern corridor of the great peristyle, were incorporated into the new construction. The earthquake of 346 AD damaged numerous buildings in the nearby city of Herdonia and may have damaged the villa.

The villa underwent radical modification in the 5th century when the luxurious dining room (cenatio) was built, and the baths underwent considerable expansion and embellishment, with a double bath system. Several service areas and a warehouse were created.

The walls of the west of the peristyle and the rooms on the eastern side of the portico were demolished and razed.

Many of the rooms (67, 68, 69, 70) and some rooms of the old baths (14, 18, 25, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 31) were reused in the great baths of the V-VI century.

The villa also gained an upper floor which was a trend typical of late antique building, as at the villas of San Giovanni di Ruoti and Quote S. Francesco.

The baths are one of the largest private Roman baths known in Italy, having an area of over 1000 m2. The floor and wall decoration is comparable to the most luxurious late antique aristocratic villas. …

Other rooms

To the south of the cenatio were rooms used as warehouses and pantries, as well as a latrine. Other rooms on the upper floor could be reached via a staircase of which there are conspicuous remains.

To the north of the cenatio, another block of rooms was found, with various service spaces on the ground floor (kitchens, warehouses) and probably residences on the first floor, according to a building model typical of the late antiquity era.

A few tens of metres from the cenatio stood a large building, which could be a horreum, a large grain warehouse.