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Excavation

  • Via Gemina
  • Aquileia
  •  
  • Italy
  • Friuli Venezia Giulia
  • Udine
  • Aquileia

Tools

Credits

  • The Italian Database is the result of a collaboration between:

    MIBAC (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Generale per i Beni Archeologici),

    ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione) and

    AIAC (Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica).

  • AIAC_logo logo

Summary (English)

  • The site is situated in one of the central areas of Roman Aquilea. In fact, the so-called “Domus of the Dancing Putti” occupies the second insula north-west of the forum, not far from the river port. Its name comes from the splendid polychrome mosaic depicting eroti surrounded by garlands, discovered during the 2005 excavations.

    The complete plan of the house as it was at the height of its development has yet to be defined. To date over twenty rooms have been identified. The main entrance was probably on the ancient via Gemina, south of the modern road, and was probably characterised by richly decorated reception rooms, of which the famous “Flowered carpet” mosaic may have been a part. To the north was a smaller “private” area arranged around a small portico. The building also developed around a second peristyle, brought to light in 2011, situated to the north of the preceding rooms. This porticoed courtyard, with a drainage and rainwater collection system, was probably closed on one or two sides. To the east it opened onto a large reception room, with a tessellated floor into which an opus sectile panel was inserted. From the outside, this area was accessed from the east via a narrow corridor linking the domus to one of the smaller streets, beyond the row of shops/workshops.

    From the peristyle it was possible to access the heated rooms of the baths, to the south, and the large kitchen. The late antique villa seems to have partially altered the cadastral layout of the insula. Although it preserved its original perimeter the layout of the internal road network changed, further evidence of the known phenomenon that saw the encroachment of private property on the urban fabric in the late antique period.

  • Federica Fontana - Università degli Studi di Trieste, Scuola di Specializzazione in Archeologia 

Director

Team

  • Emanuela Murgia
  • Wilma Fasoli - Politecnico di Torino
  • Alessia Iersettig
  • Massimo Braini
  • Antonia Spanò - Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecniche per i Processi di Insediamento
  • Filiberto Chiabrando - Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecniche per i Processi di Insediamento
  • Fulvio Rinaudo - Dipartimento di Ingegneria del Territorio, dell’Ambiente e delle Geotecnologie
  • Marco Zerbinatti - Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Sistemi edilizi e territoriali
  • Luciana Mandruzzato
  • Serena Privitera

Research Body

  • Università degli Studi di Trieste, Dipartimento di Storia e Culture dall’Antichità al Mondo Contemporaneo

Funding Body

  • Fondazione CRTrieste
  • Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia

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