Try-out: Colourful stone carpets.....

In Rome do as Romans do..... It is referring to Romans these days. But what do we know what Romans did some 2000 years ago? In the Villa Casale you can see for yourself how the very rich lived in their villa.

An extensive restoration of the villa is now finished. In stead of the (to hot) plastic roof now there is a wooden roof, like in Roman days. The problem is that it is relatively dark inside. This in combination with patches of sunshine reflecting on the floors make it difficult (for me at least) to make good pictures.

The villa belonged to the Emperor Massimiano, who ruled at the same time (together) as Diocletian.
The master of the house, the Dominus, would stay there for around two month a year, when the Senate (in Rome) went on "holiday".

Tourists were not allowed in the rooms of the large "public" baths. The floor of the gym pictures the Circus Maximus in Rome, during a chariot race.

Floor mosaics usually represent the activity that would be performed in the room. Through the Vestibule, named after the goddess Vesta, people would enter the villa, paying their respect to the Dominus.

In the private dressing room the lady of the house brings her two children to the baths. On the sides a couple of slaves.

The geometrical designs were reserved for less important "service" rooms.

In the Villa Casale are many representative spaces and large corridors that have poetic names. Like: The room of the little cupid fishermen.....

Or: The Small Hunt....

Or: The Great Hunt..... A long (almost 60 meters long and 3 meters wide) corridor with hunting scenes These scenes were not only seen from an artistic point of view, but also from a commercial one. There was a flourishing trade in wild animals for the games in the arenas.