CASA DEGLI AFFRESCHI

This grand Roman domus, named for its lavish painted plasterwork, occupies some 1,300 square metres south of the Forum. Inhabited without interruption from the first half of the first century BC until the mid-fourth century AD, the house underwent three building phases. Most of what is visible today dates from its Claudian-era remodelling, after the western wing was expropriated for public works.

The garden is the house’s most atmospheric space. Four flowerbeds sit within channels fed by seven fountains. Overlooking this are a summer dining room, floored in grey bardiglio marble, and two rooms paved with polychrome marble tiles. A low wall with pilasters and a nymphaeum encloses the northern side; both gardens are wrapped in a portico.

A second open area, the hortus, contains a flowerbed with niches for small sculptures and a portico paved in marble chips. Around it cluster the winter quarters: two rooms separated by a corridor, the larger identified as a winter dining room, its floor a fine opus sectile inlay.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.