Settefinestre

Coordinates: 42°25′50.14″N 11°19′36.32″E / 42.4305944°N 11.3267556°E / 42.4305944; 11.3267556
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Settefinestre
Museo archeologico di Rosignano Marittimo, reconstruction of the villa
Settefinestre is located in Tuscany
Settefinestre
Shown within Tuscany
RegionTuscany
Typevilla and estate
History
Founded1st century BC
PeriodsRoman Republic Roman Empire
Site notes
ArchaeologistsAndrea Carandini
Settefinestre plan
cryptoporticus
cryptoporticus

Settefinestre is best known for the site of late Republican Roman slave-run villa that was excavated in 1976-81. It lies between Capalbio and Orbetello in Tuscany, Italy.[1]

It was one of the first large Roman villas to be excavated and thoroughly published, and the exemplary archaeological excavations were a starting point for the new phase of science-supported field archaeology in Italy that led to a more detailed study of the occupation history of the Roman countryside and moves beyond the antiquarian tradition of villa-studies.[2]

It is also important as an example of the villas described in the ancient texts of

Varro[3] and Columella.[4]

History

The villa was located in the Ager Cosanus, 3.5 km from

latifundia
estates typical of southern Italy.

The villa was built on an earlier site in about 40-30 BC by the local

Sestii family as shown by brick stamps.[6]

It propsered in the early 1st century AD and was enlarged with a large cryptoporticus to support a terraced platform of 44 x 44 m.

In the Trajanic period, the villa underwent a major conversion; the guest apartment became the lodgings of a procurator with separate entrance, all the production areas were moved out while outside large baths were built in a part of the gardens. A piggery and extended slave quarters were added.[7]

The villa still prospered in the age of the

Antonines
until about 175 after which the land probably ended up in the imperial estate and the buildings underwent a slow, progressive decline.

The villa was re-fortified at a later period and was again rebuilt as a villa in the more modern sense in the 15th century. The villa was renovated in the 1970s as a luxury holiday property with the ruins open to the public and picturesquely incorporated in the garden plan.[8]

The site

Settefinestre lower terrace wall

The villa seems to describe the ideal model of Varro,[9] with its subdivision into pars urbana, rustica and fructuaria. The private part of the pars urbana was luxuriously decorated and centred around a peristyle while the guest rooms and pars rustica were built around an atrium and had a mosaic floor.[10]

It was built on at least 2 terraces, still visible, with gardens on the lower and the main villa on the terrace above supported by a cryptoporticus. An unusual feature visible today is the lower terrace wall with narrow towers as in a fortification, a local speciality common to other nearby villas such as at "Le Colonne".

The commercial product of Roman Villa Settefinestre was wine.[11]

A fresco found at the site was recently restored and was on display at the Polveriera Guzman in Orbetello.[12][13]

Aside from the villa at Settefinestre, there are remains of comparable contemporary villas at Le Colonne (Capalbio) and La Provincia,[14] and many remains of Roman buildings nearby.[15]

Sources

  • Settefinestre: Una Villa Schiavistica Nell'Etruria Romana edited A. Carandini and A Ricci, (Modena, 1985) : several lavish volumes present the detailed report of the archaeology.
  • Annalisa Marzano, Roman Villas in Central Italy: A Social and Economic History. (Brill, 2007)

References

  1. ^ Harris, W., DARMC, R. Talbert, S. Gillies, J. Åhlfeldt, J. Becker, T. Elliott (9 October 2020). "Places: 413316 (Settefinestre)". Pleiades. Retrieved December 7, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Varro, De re rustica I, 194
  3. ^ Columella, De re rustica, book 1
  4. ^ Van Oyen, A. (2020). The Socio-Economics of Roman Storage: Agriculture, Trade, and Family (pp. 197-228). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108850216.010
  5. ^ Settefinestre: Una Villa Schiavistica Nell'Etruria Romana edited A. Carandini and A Ricci, (Modena, 1985) 1:100-106
  6. ^ Dyson, Stephen L. “The Excavations at Le Colonne and the Villa Culture of the Ager Cosanus.” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 47 (2002): 209–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/4238798. p224
  7. .
  8. ^ Varro, de Rustica, 3,2,3–17
  9. ^ SETTEFINESTRE https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/settefinestre_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/
  10. .
  11. ^ Restaurato l’affresco della villa romana di Settefinestre: la mostra alla Guzman
  12. ^ Il Gruppo FAI Maremma per Settefinestre: il recupero di un affresco https://www.grossetonotizie.com/costa-dargento/2018/09/07/gruppo-fai-maremma-per-settefinestre-recupero-affresco-mostra/
  13. ^ Dyson, Stephen L. “The Excavations at Le Colonne and the Villa Culture of the Ager Cosanus.” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 47 (2002): 209–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/4238798. p 211
  14. ^ La Costa Toscana http://casavacanze.poderesantapia.com/italiano/costatoscana/capalbiovalledoro1villasettefinestre.htm

External links

42°25′50.14″N 11°19′36.32″E / 42.4305944°N 11.3267556°E / 42.4305944; 11.3267556