Villa delle Vignacce
American Institute for Roman Culture
Excavations at Villa delle Vignacce
The roots of the Eternal City, which just celebrated its
2,762nd birthday, go deep and are still being unearthed.
The Villa delle Vignacce archaeological excavation project, made up of a multi-disciplinary collaboration team of specialists: archaeologists, conservator-restorers, architects, engineers, and scientists is authorized by the sovrintendente ai Beni culturali del Comune di Roma.
The American Institute for Roman Culture wishes to thank the Sovraintendenza Comunale di Roma, Umberto Broccoli and his staff, Dott.ssa Paola Virgili, Dott.ssa Greta Mancioli, and Dott.ssa Nadia Agnoli for their guidance and supervision of this important research project.
The Villa delle Vignacce project is solely funded by the AIRC and its sponsors and donors. The AIRC owes a great debt of gratitude to the first private sponsor of the project, who wishes to remain anonymous, the American Express Foundation for their support of the project in 2006 and 2007, and the contributions in time, labor and much needed financing of the Institute’s contributors and project volunteers.
The Site
The Villa delle Vignacce complex, built in the second century AD, was the property of Quintus Servilius Pudens, a friend of the Roman emperor Hadrian. The villa is located in a park famed for the well-preserved aqueduct channels that stretch for miles along the Via Appia Antica and was first explored by archaeologists in 1780.
These investigations yielded statues that are now in the Vatican Museums, yet no drawings or documentation were made of the remains. It is only now that this ancient Roman villa and surrounding area in the middle of a suburban park is being properly excavated, documented and preserved.
The American Institute for Roman Culture began excavations at the site in 2006, and work to date has unearthed the ground floor of the villa, nearly four meters beneath the modern level of the park grounds, as well as parts of subterranean floor space below ground level. Discoveries include a lavish bath complex with beautifully preserved mosaic floors, marble columns and capitals, marble veneer, marble-lined fountains, intact ancient heating system, rare second century AD glass-paste mosaics in the original vaulting and staturary. Each of these rare treasures attests to the site’s singular importance as a vehicle for studying and preserving an example of Roman architecture and culture.
At present, the Institute is examining the secondary subterranean spaces, including drainage systems and corridors for activities performed by slaves—an area of the grounds that covers at least five acres. Future explorations will reconcile the relationship between the newly discovered bath complex and the previously known bathing facilities of the sprawling villa complex, unearth the other sections of the villa (including a huge garden area), and relate the history of the villa to what is known about Rome’s suburbium
The Institute views the Villa delle Vignacce site as a laboratory for sustainable design, with a mission to analyze, excavate, and reduce deterioration of the site, create new conservation initiatives, and document and archive the findings for future research and immediate educational purposes, for both the academic and public communities. In addition, the project creates a unique hands-on learning opportunity for students and academics from around the world for conservation efforts dedicated to preserving and protecting this precious site.
Interested in three-dimensional survey methods as an advanced means of documenting at risk cultural heritage sites, the AIRC requisitioned a scan of the area excavated between 2006-2008 using advanced laser technology. This exciting imagery, some of which readers can find on this page.
Using advanced laser technology Professor Gabriele Guidi, Department of Reverse Engineering, Politecnico di Milano and a leader in the application of 3D scanning technology to cultural heritage, helped the AIRC create a laser enhanced plan of the bathing complex “virtualizing” the research conduced year to date. The findings of this scan and the model created were presented at the CAA conference last fall in Williamsburg, VA. An e-Publication will follow shortly.
3D laser scanning; reverse modeling, digital mould and 3D data interpretation overseen by Gabriele Guidi and Michele Russo, Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
Summary of the Seasons to Date
Join our Field School at the Villa delle Vignacce.
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