Villa of the Ambulatio, Baiae
About
A raised, roofed portico gave this hillside villa sector its modern name, ambulatio, a covered gallery for walking and taking in the bay view in any weather. Terraced against the slope beside Baiae's bathing quarter, it formed part of the dense villa district packing the hillside above the harbor. Excavation has traced its colonnades and service rooms through several building phases of the early Empire. The terrace stood occupied through 117 CE, part of the resort's still-thriving villa belt.
What happened here
A working estate with a comfortable house attached, and the proportions vary with how rich the owner is and how often he visits. The farm side has presses for oil and wine, threshing floors, storage sunk into the ground, stables and quarters for the workforce. The residential side has baths, dining rooms sited for the view, mosaics, and a garden with water in it. A manager runs the place year-round and reports; the owner arrives for the vintage and for the summer. Produce goes to market or to the owner's town house, and the accounts are kept in detail. Some villas are pure retreat with no farm at all, built on a cliff or a lake specifically to be looked at from a boat.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →