Villa Repubblicana

Deserves attention.

Villa of Cicero Some notes on the identification of the villa of Anzio that belonged to Cicero Taken from "Ancient Mosaics in Italy - Region before - Antium" by Valnea Santa Maria Scrinari and Maria Luisa Morricone Matini, C.N.R., published in 1975 by the Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Rome. Page 9: Along with the frequent nuclei of remains of villas along the roads that lead to Anzio and from Anzio towards Circei and Terracina, the most vivid and effective source is Cicero: he is in continuous traffic between his properties of Formia (II, 8) ; of Arpino (II, 8), of Tuscolo (II, 9), of Rome (II, 8). And yet in Anzio he pauses more willingly than elsewhere (II, 6) and insists on inviting his friend Atticus (IV 4 a) and solicits his help in organizing his library (IV, 4 a - IV, 5 - IV, 8). In fact he will have the help of the freed Tyrannio (IV, 4 a) and then of the two librarii Dionisus and Menophilus in 56 a. C. that Atticus procured him. And in the meantime he tells his friend that in Anzio excellent gladiatorial combats are taking place (IV, 4 a) and that the ludi take place in early May (II, 8). He also explains how to reach his villa: "de via recta in hortos" (IV, 5) and in describing it he clearly refers to his position at sea ... aut libris me delecto ... aut fluctus number (II, 6) . There is still another news that interests us: Attico would like to buy some house or villa and Cicero in 56 a. C. explains to him how he finds nothing already built to be bought in the countryside "in opposition to est quiddam (IV, 8) ... et proximum quidem nostris aedibus". Essential news to recognize the villa of Cicero "in oppido", that is to say on the coast of Antium still oppidum, that is surrounded by its beautiful vallo volsco. If the road that leads there does not have a particular name but is simply called recta and passes not through the city but through the orchards, that is, tangent to the countryside, we can well imagine the villa on the west coast, recognizing it in one of the many villages that overlook today on the edge of the northernmost cliff of the great imperial complex. It is probable that this is the villa he sold years later to Lepidus and that he names in the letter to Atticus from Astura, where he evidently owns a new property and stays in the 45th. C. (XIII, 47 a).

not open to visitors, private This reticulated villa of which it is difficult to discern the belonging, was built at the end of the republic or rather at an early Augustan age. Today only the quadrangular atrium with the impluvium remains of the villa. Obtained from a larger space in reticulated work, the atrium had walls covered with cipollino and a black and white mosaic floor decorated with a motif of interlocking circles. The atrium compartment is a square with an 8-meter side and the mosaic decoration - in relation to the brick walls - is arranged in a band around the square tub, with the 4-meter side, devoid of the original corners and with some traces of the marble cladding, between two bands formed by two rows of black tesserae. The ornamental motif consists of circles intertwined with the overlapping parts in black. The result is hexagons with concave sides, decorated in the center with a rosette motif. The motif of intertwined circles is quite common in the 2nd century AD. and finds precise results in Ostia Antica.