Domus Romane di Palazzo Valentini a Roma

Read the translation in English:
The Roman Houses of Palazzo Valentini

PIERO ANGELA

2,000 years ago, this place was in the heart of Imperial Rome. Where you're standing right now was the house of a very rich and powerful man, perhaps a senator. Beneath your feet, excavation work is revealing the floor of one of his salons. It has resisted for 2,000 years, buried beneath tons of detritus and today, thanks to the work of archaeologists and restorers, it is re-emerging in all its glory.

While digging in this area archaeologists came face to face with a surprise. Once they had removed the last layer of earth, this is what they saw: a portion of perfectly preserved Roman road. This was the so-called basolato layer, created with large blocks of stone. Each basolo or block was more than 30 cm thick and we see them here lined up, giving us an idea of their thickness. The weight of the blocks varied according to their size, from 50 kg to 300 kg each. This gives us a glimpse of the kind of work behind the building of a road, because it was all done by hand, the stones had to fit together perfectly to ensure the surface was smooth for carriages to pass.


NARRATOR

From here, you can see some of the outside wall of the Domus (house). It is made of thin bricks. In some cases, the bricks were triangular to allow for a better fit. In fact, inside the wall, there is just a heap of stone rubble and plaster. It should be pointed out that these walls were very probably the back walls of the house. The Domus probably continued beyond this point for quite some way. Here is how we can imagine what a grand Roman Domus of that time would look like.

PIERO ANGELA

The remains of a wide staircase were found in this area, leading to the upper floor of the villa. Using special lighting can give us an idea of how it would have looked back then, by completing the structure. The existence of an upper floor indicates this was a very large and luxurious house, even with traces of frescoes. Here too we can imagine how it looked at the time. Who knows how many times children would have run up and down these stairs, followed by servants anxious to ensure the master and his guests were not disturbed.

This Domus was also inhabited by a powerful family, you can immediately tell this by the floor. Miraculously, it has been saved, in spite of this ruined portion of mosaic. It is a very delicate mosaic, with a motif of geometrical forms and decorated with floral patterns, each one different to the others. Today it is possible to "restore it" using special light effects, creating a virtual image to reconstruct the missing parts and reveal how it once was. Mosaics were the carpets of their time. We have calculated that at least half-a-million tiny tiles, so-called tessera, would have been needed to create this mosaic. We can picture patricians and notable men walking on this floor discussing politics and business. This room lead onto another.

NARRATOR

And this is how this room looked then, with its colonnade, and doors leading to open spaces heading towards the gardens. Using virtual graphic effects we can recreate a three dimensional model of how the two rooms looked.

PIERO ANGELA

Since then the moon has risen and fallen almost 700,000 times over this extraordinary city, this unique, magical place, that today, after all this time, still speaks to us and surprises us.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• roma
• antica roma
• romani
• impero
• domus romane
• terme
• piero angela
• quark
• superquark
• archeologia
• scavi archeologici

[HeatherGreenleaf]

stupendo! :D quelle riconstruzione 3D sono davvero bellissime :)