The Roman villa of Casignana is a Roman villa whose remains are located in the Palazzi district in the municipality of Casignana (RC).
The most important phase of the villa, whose original layout dates back to the 1st century AD. it is that of an important renovation of the 4th century. It was later abandoned in the 5th century, but shows traces of frequentation until the 7th century.
The villa was discovered in 1963, on the occasion of the works for the construction of an aqueduct, at the 106 Ionica state road and was systematically investigated by the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Calabria in the eighties. Since 1998 the site has been managed by the municipality of Casignana which acquired the neighboring lands with the contribution of the mountain community of eastern Aspromonte, allowing the area under investigation to be expanded.
The villa probably stood on the ancient road connecting Locri Epizefiri and Rhegion (Reggio Calabria).
The rooms of a large private spa complex, accessible from a porch, have been brought to light. richly decorated with mosaics, including the figured one of the frigidarium ("room of the Nereids"), dated to the III century, which depicts in large white and green tesserae a marine thiasos with four female figures riding a lion, a bull, a horse and a tiger ending in a fish tail.
The room has an octagonal plan with four apsidal sides and has two cold water tanks. The calidarium, with a hypocaust heating system and clay pipes on the walls, also has an octagonal plan and mosaic flooring in small tesserae and had to be covered by a vault. The complex also includes a rectangular room paved with colored marble slabs (opus sectile).
Upstream there is a monumental nymphaeum with cisterns.
On the opposite side of the highway there is the residential part of the villa, with rooms articulated around a large courtyard. There are still mosaic floors ("room of the four seasons, apsidal room").
It is at this villa that the Roman statio of Altanum is located.
Roman villa of Casignana
Address: S.S. 106 Km 82,000, 89030 Casignana RC
Phone: 0964 957007
Site:
http://www.beniculturalicalabria.it/index.phpLocation inserted by
Bonometti Paola