AQUILEIA - Spread over an area of 1,700 square meters and is one of the largest residences from the Roman era among those found in Northern Italy.
It is the "Domus of Tito Macro", at the center of an innovative enhancement project, inaugurated today, which brought back to life the rooms of the house in Aquileia.
The intervention, promoted by the Aquileia Foundation, was financed with 6 million euros, by the Fvg Region and Ales Spa, and involved the rearrangement of the area following the excavation activity conducted by the University of Padua and the construction of one of the largest existing roofing structures in Europe, supported by steel pillars in Pompeian red, which will allow the public to actually enter an ancient Roman residence and understand its articulation, volumes and paths.
The house extends for about 77 meters in length and 25 in width, between two cobbled streets of the city (decumani) within one of the southern blocks of the colony from which the mosaic of the rape of Europe comes, the floor with branch of grapevine with bow and the 'unswept floor', now on display at the National Archaeological Museum, and the mosaic of the Good Shepherd, provisionally placed in Meizlik Palace.
During the intervention, cleaning, consolidation, repair of gaps and final protection were carried out on an area of 320 square meters of floors decorated with mosaics, the visible phase of which can be dated between the end of the 1st century BC and the middle of the I ° AD The visit will soon be enriched with a multimedia exhibition, which will allow to reconstruct the characteristics of the rooms and floors.
"The enhancement of the Domus of Tito Macro represents an important point of a path that the Foundation has been following for some time to achieve a better usability of the remains of the great Roman city. The goal is to make the archaeological finds and the great works of art 'talking' preserved art ", said the president of the Aquileia Foundation, Antonio Zanardi Landi.
This project, observed the president and CEO of Ales spa, Mario De Simoni, "confirms Italy's ability to be a leader in the enhancement of cultural heritage. With the reconstruction of the volumes of the Domus by Tito Macro, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in an even more engaging way in the reality of the time and better grasp its characteristics ".