Summary (English)
The thermopolium with its characteristic, L-shaped counter for mixing and selling wine faces onto the via Nola.
The layout of the interior spaces (three large quadrangular communicating rooms
1, 2, 3, with a second row of parallel roomsA, B, C) reflected the commercial nature of the structure. The arrangement was probably the result of the need to create a zone reserved for clients, including a room on the upper floor (reached from ambulacrum B). As in other buildings on the via Nola, the presence of vertical stones and blocks of Sarno limestone – evidence of an earlier structure in opus Africanum – can be attributed to the first sub-division of insula V, 4 at the beginning of the second Samnite period. An entrance from the vicolo dei Gladiatori (8) was created post-62 A.D. and led into the productive area. The area for the production and storage of food and drinks was situated in the rear of the building.The heart of this establishment is represented by rooms E ( torcularium inserted into a small quadrangular space paved with opus signinum ) and F (wine cellar, with 8 dolia of various sizes; two with the stamp of C. Naevius Vitalis; other with graffiti numerals). The 2009 excavations documented the state of the evidence in 79 A.D. and the dating of the thermopolium.
The earliest phase of the complex dates to the beginning of the second Samnite period, at the time of the first sub-division of the area. The north and west sectors were gradually transformed until the building reached its full size during the 1st century B.C. The most substantial interventions occurred between the mid 1st century A.D. and the post – 62 A.D. phase and involved the expansion of the catering structures (drainage system, cooking structures, installation of the torcularium E and the wine cellar F).
- Chiara Maratini - Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia 
Director
- Annapaola Zaccaria Ruggiu - Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia
Team
Research Body
- Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità e del Vicino Oriente Antico
Funding Body
- MIUR
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