Villa Sestiana (Settefinestre)
About
Slave gangs on this Etruscan estate pressed wine and processed grain across workshops arranged around a terraced courtyard, following the model Roman agronomists Varro and Columella prescribed in their farming manuals almost to the letter. Built by the wealthy Sestii family in the mid-1st century BCE, it stood just three miles from the port town of Cosa that shipped its produce onward. Excavations here in the 1970s helped found modern Roman villa archaeology.
What happened here
Land held in one ownership and worked as a unit, whether the owner is a senator, an emperor or a town. Day to day it is run by a manager who keeps the accounts, allots the tasks and answers for the shortfall. The workforce is mixed — slaves in gangs, tenant farmers on shares, and seasonal labour hired for the harvest and the vintage. Tenants owe a proportion of the crop and a fixed number of days' work, and the terms are posted publicly, which is how we know them. Buildings cluster: presses, granaries, a smithy, quarters, a shrine. Disputes over water and over how many days are owed go to the estate's own procurator first and to the emperor if that fails.
Sources
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 →