Villa of the Sette Bassi

The Villa dei Sette Bassi, also known as the Villa Via Tuscolana, is a vast ancient Roman archaeological site located at the fifth mile of the Via Tuscolana to the southeast of Rome, within the Parco Archeologico dell'Appia Antica. It was the second-largest ancient Roman villa or monumental palace in the suburban area of Rome, surpassed only by the Villa of the Quintilii. The villa was constructed during the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-161 CE) and remained inhabited until the fourth century, with maintenance and restorations continuing for approximately two more centuries. Its significance lies in its enormous scale, its imperial connections, and the insight it provides into the luxury and complexity of Roman suburban villa architecture. The site is also notable for the scholarly attention it has received since the eighteenth century and for the six Roman marble sculptures discovered there that are now held in the British Museum.

The villa was built in stages beginning in 134-139 CE, early in the reign of Antoninus Pius, with additional structures added in 140-150 and toward the end of his reign. The name 'Sette Bassi,' attested since the Middle Ages, likely derives from the emperor Lucius Septimius Bassianus, known as Caracalla (r. 198-217), rather than from Septimius Bassus, a prefect under Septimius Severus. Caracalla appears to have merged the Villa dei Sette Bassi and the Villa of the Quintilii into a single vast imperial estate. The villa was inhabited until the beginning of the fourth century and received further restorations for two subsequent centuries, with occupation extending to the sixth century according to some sources. The ruins attracted scholarly interest as early as the eighteenth century, including the attention of Gavin Hamilton, and were so extensive that they earned the nickname 'Roma Vecchia' (Old Rome). Later studies were conducted by Thomas Ashby and the architect Nicolae Lupu, who contributed to a model of the villa for the Mostra Augustea della Romanità in 1937-1938, now displayed at the Museo della Civiltà Romana at EUR. The structures suffered severe damage during the Second World War, particularly from British air raids in 1944 targeting nearby Cinecittà. In February 2014, a buttress collapsed, attributed to heavy rainfall though excavations revealed low-quality building materials had been used. A four-story windowed facade remained visible until it was finally brought down by a severe storm in 1951.

The archaeological remains at the Villa dei Sette Bassi encompass residential, recreational, and utilitarian structures that together illustrate the scope of imperial Roman luxury architecture. The residential complex comprises three contiguous building phases arranged from east to west around a porticoed garden. The site also preserves evidence of a large rectangular circus or hippodrome-garden measuring 95 by 327 meters, terraced and surrounded by a cryptoporticus, which would have contained water features, avenues, ornamental buildings, statues, and fountains. The water supply was managed through a branch of the Anio Novus aqueduct feeding an elaborate system of cisterns, including one with two floors. To the northwest, the pars rustica housed service staff and stored agricultural and domestic equipment, though this area has not been systematically excavated. The site has yielded decorative materials including mosaic and opus sectile pavements, and sculptural finds of sufficient quality and quantity that six Roman marble sculptures from the villa entered the collection of the British Museum.

The most significant movable finds from the Villa dei Sette Bassi are the six Roman marble sculptures now in the British Museum. Within the site itself, notable architectural features include the three-phase residential complex with its compact eastern building measuring approximately 50 meters per side and its northwest peristyle of about 45 meters per side. The second building contains a south-facing panoramic rotunda, a luxury feature without practical function. The third and most elaborate structure incorporated large thermal baths and multi-story halls. The grand four-story windowed facade, now lost, was a distinctive element until its collapse in 1951. The hippodrome-garden, comparable in concept to those at the Villa of Domitian and the Palace of Domitian, represents one of the most ambitious known examples of Roman landscape architecture. Near the original southwestern entrance, remains of richly decorated rooms have been identified, and in the pars rustica area, a small rectangular brick temple with vaulted ceilings and a gabled roof, identified as a nymphaeum, contains a rectangular apse that would have held a divine statue. The architectural model created by Nicolae Lupu for the 1937-1938 Mostra Augustea della Romanità, now at the Museo della Civiltà Romana, provides an important three-dimensional record of the villa's appearance.