The Villa of the Quintilii (Italian: Villa dei Quintili) is a monumental ancient Roman villa situated beyond the fifth milestone along the Via Appia Antica just outside the traditional boundaries of Rome, Italy. It was first built by the rich and cultured Quintilii brothers Sextus Quintilius Valerius Maximus and Sextus Quintilius Condianus (consuls in 151 AD).A. Ricci, La villa dei Quintilii (Rome 1998).
The ruins of this villa suburbana are of such an extent that when they were first excavated, the site was called Roma Vecchia ("Old Rome") by the locals, as they occupied too great a ground, it seemed, to have been anything less than a town. The villa included extensive thermae fed by its own aqueduct and, what was even more unusual, a garden-hippodrome, which dates to the fourth century, when the villa was Imperial property.
History
The nucleus of the villa was built by the Quintilii brothers Sextus Quintilius Valerius Maximus (proconsul of Asia in 168 ADCassius Dio, Roman History, 72, 33) and Sextus Quintilius Condianus in the time of Hadrian (r.117-138), as shown by brick stamps found during the excavations of the reception rooms in 1984-87.Giuliana Galli, La Villa dei Quintili a c. di R.Paris, Electa 2000 p.29
The emperor Commodus (r.177-192) coveted the villa so much that he put to death its owners in 182 and confiscated it for himself.Aelius Lampridius, "The Life of Commodus", 4 Commodus and subsequent emperors then extended and embellished the estate.
From the end of the 4th century the site became a sort of quarry for building materials such as bricks, tuff, marble and metal clamps. Near the Great Exedra hundreds of marble fragments together with the chisel used to tear them from the walls were found.
Discovery and excavations
In 1776 Gavin Hamilton, the entrepreneurial painter and purveyor of Roman antiquities, excavated some parts of the Villa of the Quintilii, still called "Roma Vecchia", and the sculptures he uncovered revealed the imperial nature of the site:
There he found five marble sculptures, including "An Adonis asleep","Endymion asleep on Mount Latmus, according to Vermeule. that he sold to Charles Townley and which has come to the British Museum and "A Bacchante with the tyger", listed as sold to Mr Greville.The "Adonis" and "Bacchante" appear in a list of "Ancient marbles found by Mr Gavin Hamilton in various Ruins near Rome since 1769", annexed to a volume of transcripts of the Hamilton-Townley correspondence, published by G. J. Hamilton and A. H. Smith, "Gavin Hamilton's Letters to Charles Townley" The Journal of Hellenic Studies 21 (1901:306-321); the Townley "Bacchante" at the British Museum is "merely a draped female with a bunch of grapes in the left hand and a panther beside the lower limbs" according to Vermeule; it had been called a "Libera" and "found by Mr. Gavin Hamilton, at Roma Vecchia", in Charles Knight, Guide cards to the antiquities in the British Museum 1840. The large marble relief of Asclepius found at the site passed from Hamilton to the Earl of Shelburne, later Marquess of Lansdowne, at Lansdowne House, London.Vermeule 1968:612, noting A.H. Smith, in Journal of Hellenic Studies 21' (1901:316). Smith had identified the site as the Domus Quintiliana in The Lansdowne Marbles 1889. (Vermeule, ibid., note 14). The "Braschi Venus" from the site was purchased by Pius VI's nephew, Luigi Braschi Onesti.
Today the archaeological site houses a museumCatalogued by Paola Brandizzi Vittucci, La collezione archeologica nel Casale di Roma Vecchia (Rome) 1982. with marble friezes and sculptures that once adorned the villa. The nympheum, the hall of the tepidarium and the baths may also be visited. A grand terrace overlooking the Via Appia Nuova, which dates back to 1784, commands a fine view of the Castelli Romani district. The villa's grounds extended even beyond the route of the Via Appia Nuova.
In 2018, new excavations uncovered an extravagant and extraordinary winery and triclinium, built over the starting gates of the Commodus' circus, which features marble-clad instead of opus signinum treading areas, and a distribution system with fountains of wine that flowed from the production spaces down into the cellar. The facility has equipment normally found in ancient Roman wineries, but the level of decoration and theatre indicate that it served a more unusual purpose of conspicuous production and potential vintage ritual for the elite of imperial Roman society. Triclinia (dining rooms) with wide entrances surrounded this winery area on three sides, their walls and floors covered in elaborate opus sectile with exotic marbles in geometrical patterns, indicating that the emperor entertained here around the theatrical spectacle of wine production. It is similar to the ceremonial winery of the imperial Villa Magna in Latium. It is dated to the reign of Gordian III (r. 238-244 AD).
The site
The villa's earliest residential and reception areas of the Quintilii brothers are dated to the first decades of the 2nd century between the Hadrianic era and the reign of Marcus Aurelius.R. Paris – R. Frontoni – G. Galli (a cura di), Via Appia. Villa dei Quintili, Santa Maria Nova, Electa, Milano 2019. p 28 The various sectors of the villa were architecturally arranged on different levels connected by courtyards and gardens enclosed by porticoed corridors. The gardens were furnished with ornamental vegetable species and basins with water jets, of which a square-shaped example remains.
Public “reception” sector
This sector belongs to the original nucleus of the villa and the magnificence of the marble coverings still in place indicates that these rooms were a sumptuous reception area where the owners received guests.R Frontoni G Galli, Villa dei Quintili. Pavimenti musivi e in opus sectile dell'area central, Atti del XVI Colloquio dell'Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico 2010
The large courtyard (36 x 12 m) was similar to the western sector of Nero's Domus AureaR. Paris – R. Frontoni – G. Galli (a cura di), Via Appia. Villa dei Quintili, Santa Maria Nova, Electa, Milano 2019. p 30 and used as a meeting and discussion place similar to a small forum. It has Cipollino marble paving still intact and had a portico on one of the long sides. The main reception rooms are its north side and the main room was an octagonal tower with panorama over the rest of the residential part and connected to the upper level of the garden/amphitheatre. It was enlarged and renovated under Commodus. It had a domed roof and four open entrances, each with a vaulted passage, and was heated by a hypocaust. It is probable that this room was used as a winter triclinium (banquet hall) or at least as a discussion area, from which it was possible to observe the landscape towards the valley and any visitors in the open courtyard below. This reception area was on the upper level and connected to the service rooms below (only partially excavated) by a porticoed corridor the walls of which were decorated with marble slabs and lintels in greco scritto and rosso antico.PIETRO SERRA, Thesis: La Villa dei Quintili: scavi e scoperte lungo il V miglio della Via Appia, Dielle Editore Roma, 2015
To the west of this area was a large circular summer triclinium which in the age of Commodus led to the theatre and of which there was a privileged view to the stage. The nearby rooms between the baths and the theatre have been arranged around this with radial and tangential walls, giving rise to irregular resulting spaces. Many are small but luxurious rooms for receiving and lodging guests and several have exceptionally well preserved polychrome mosaic floors with various decorative motifs, both black and white and coloured, all of which date to the 2nd century. One of the best rooms still has an opus sectile floor made of Palombino, slate, and giallo antico marble, with remains of wall frescos and a hypocaust heating system showing it was used in winter.R Frontoni G Galli, Villa dei Quintili. Pavimenti musivi e in opus sectile dell'area central, Atti del XVI Colloquio dell'Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico 2010 p 415
The corridor between the baths and the theatre had a mosaic floor with small polychrome crosses, but was occupied in the late Roman era by a double-chamber furnace used to melt and recycle glass and piles of recycled glass were found in a corner.
Private residential part
This complex of rooms closely connected in plan and structure with the public sector was partly built on the terrace above the basis villae substructure overlooking the scenic valley below and the ancient Via Latina, and perhaps above a private garden. The residential rooms to the east of the villa had bedrooms (‘’cubicula’’), latrines and small thermal baths for private use. This sector was enlarged and modified from the era of Commodus to the 3rd century, incorporating the original parts from the Quintilii era. The corridor connecting the basis villae with the residential sector had walls and floors covered with precious marble inlays.PIETRO SERRA, Thesis: La Villa dei Quintili: scavi e scoperte lungo il V miglio della Via Appia, Dielle Editore Roma, 2015 p 20
Basis villae
This substructural sector of the upper levels of the villa, dating mainly to between the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD, was for services such as the furnaces for heating, kitchens and warehouses, crossed by the sewerage system and the water supply system. This structure was an admirable architectural solution to adapting the building on different levels to the land consisting of a lava bank of the Capo di Bove flow.Giuliana Galli, La Villa dei Quintili a c. di R.Paris, Electa 2000 p.40
The bare wall structures visible today with a curtain wall in opus listata once constituted a series of vaulted rooms, completely plastered, overlooking the valley to the east.
The great baths
Intended for guests, they incorporated the first baths of the Quintili era built from tuff walls, their final enlargement being under Septimius Severus and Caracalla (late 2nd to early 3rd century) using brick for walls.ADAM G.P., L’arte di costruire presso i romani, Milano 1988
The large frigidarium hall with two symmetrical cold pools still retains the extraordinary precious marble opus sectile flooring (in Thassos marble, cipollino, giallo antico) found in excavations of 1998-2000, and two preserved marble columns retrieved from the Baths of Diocletian after being removed by Nibby in 1828-9 for Prince Torlonia. The room had been preserved beneath 1.6 m of earth and the collapsed massive vaulted ceiling. The room was decorated with sculptures inspired by the Dionysian theme.PIETRO SERRA, Thesis: La Villa dei Quintili: scavi e scoperte lungo il V miglio della Via Appia, Dielle Editore Roma, 2015 p 23 To the south of the hall a vestibule is decorated with a polychrome checkerboard mosaic.
The large caldarium has an unusual square structure, enormous windows and a pool 1.2 m deep heated by three large bronze boilers (testudines alvei). The ceiling was vaulted and covered with mosaics of blue, light blue and aquamarine glass paste tiles, found in large numbers. Between the frigidarium and the caldarium lies the tepidarium which includes changing rooms, massage rooms and hot and cold basins, one of which is dated to Gordian III (r.238-244 AD) from a lead pipe stamp.Giuliana Galli, La Villa dei Quintili a c. di R.Paris, Electa 2000 p.42
The exedra/theatre