The Roman villa of Torvaianica was discovered by chance, in via Siviglia, in early 2006, during work on a sewer network. It lies in Torvaianica, a frazione of Pomezia, a few hundred metres from today's coastline.
What to see
The dig has brought to light the layout of what was most probably the villa of a wealthy senatorial family, built not far from the sea and not far from the place where tradition says Aeneas landed. Besides the residential rooms, there are bath structures, a colonnaded portico and raised gardens; the flooring was rich, in coloured marble laid out in geometric designs, with marble skirting and some fragments of frescoes and decoration. The first hypotheses, based on the richness of the materials and on some inscriptions on two lead pipes, attribute the villa to two senators of the gens Flavia. Blind niches in opus reticulatum, mostly facing the sea, served as ornament: they held trees, creating a small wood that hid the villa from the seaward side, a feature typical of maritime villas between the end of the Augustan age and the early imperial period.
The portico continues to the south, with wall phases reaching the third century, and with apsed rooms so imposing as to suggest a monumental villa; fragments of paradeisos frescoes were found there, naturalistic painting at life size with birds, insects and plants. In the necropolis, between 24 October and 30 November 2006, 69 tombs were brought to light, later grown to 79, dating to around the third century: adults lay on beds of tiles, children were placed in oil amphorae, mostly from Tunisia; beside the bodies were found nails, believed to drive away evil spirits, and coins. It is thought that in the late imperial period the villa was the centre of a vast estate with many servants. In 2009 the excavations resumed with funds from the Soprintendenza and yielded, among other things, a strigillated sarcophagus with a tabula inscripta, very well preserved and datable to the third century.
Visiting
According to the sources consulted, which do not date the information, the villa is closed to the public: the land was returned to its owner because the expropriation had not been formalised, and part of the structures has been covered over. Before going, check the current state of the site.
Our editors' tip
To put the place in context, the Lavinium Civic Archaeological Museum, at Pratica di Mare, gathers the finds of the ancient city tied to the myth of Aeneas, in the same area where the legend of the landing is set.
