Villa of Trajan

Site

The Villa was built on two large terraced platforms on the lower slopes of Monte Altuino, the lower terrace being the only one excavated to date. The lower terrace is the "public" wing, used for visitors and entertainment, while the upper terrace is considered to be the "private" or residential wing.

The lower terrace is a long rectangle (100 x 40 m) supported by a wall with massive buttresses, the cladding of which is in opus mixtum of brick latticework.

In the centre of the terrace is the garden, one of the focal points of the entire complex, surrounded by a peristyle and onto which face many rooms. At each end of the garden were two large semicircular basins with fountains and steps at the corners, entirely covered with slabs of white marble; both were flanked by a masonry base which perhaps supported a basin.

To the west of the garden is the main building, the most imposing of the whole complex, and the one that has yielded the greatest number of finds of sumptuous stucco and marble decorations. The triclinium (summer dining room) (13 x 9 m) is in the centre, accessed by four doors spaced by large windows that open onto the side rooms. The entrance from the garden was framed by a pair of columns. On the back wall there is a nymphaeum consisting of three niches from which water poured into the pool below. The niches were framed by marble shelves, decorated with dolphins and tritons, on which were small columns supporting the decorated architrave. Above there was a mosaic band composed of glass-paste tesserae reflecting the sun's rays which, hitting the pool of water, created a play of light and colours on the surrounding walls in marble and stucco gold. The nymphaeum had an arch which created harmony and grace to the whole structure. The floor was decorated in colourful opus sectile, i.e. rectangular slabs of marble bordered by strips in giallo antico (antique yellow). …

History of excavations

Trajan's Villa was plundered as early as the 5th and 6th centuries, testified by numerous piles of marble and building material, while rooms XIV and XXVI were used for a kitchen and a small forge. Further stripping took place during the 17th century due to the wealth and abundance of marble, of which the villa was a real mine. Excavations in 1777 stand out at recovering marble for the construction of the church of Sant'Andrea near Subiaco. The correspondence between the director of the excavations, G. Corradi, and the Prefect of Antiquities of the Papal State, GB Visconti, shows that the supply of precious marbles was huge. In 1829-1833 there was further removal of material for the Church of Santa Maria Assunta near Arcinazzo Romano. The work was long, gradual and generalised and involved not only materials of high quality, but also humbler ones such as lead.

In 1955, 1958 and 1960 the first real excavation campaigns took place during which a small part of the Villa along via Sublacense was brought to light, the retaining wall delimiting the lower terrace and part of the similar one for the upper terrace, which showed the plan had a peristyle and what was then considered a nymphaeum (today identified with the triclinium).

Other limited excavations took place in the 1970s and between 1980 and 1982 which led to the important discovery of the triclinium. The most recent excavations were annually from 1999 with many finds of the splendid decoration and restoration of the areas already brought to light.

At the end of the 19th century a series of fistula acquaria (lead water pipes) were found near the villa bearing the imperial title and the name of the procurator, Hebrus, the same as for Trajan's villa at Centumcellae (today's Civitavecchia). This allowed the complex to be attributed with certainty to Trajan and also to fix its date. The following text is on the first series of fistulae:

Imp(eratoris) Nervae Traiani Caesar(is) Aug(usti) Germanic(i) sub cura Hebri lib(erti) proc(uratoris): (Of the Emperor Nerva Trajan Caesar Augustus Germanicus, under the care of Hebrus, freedman and procurator) …