Villa Cardilii
About
Vila Cardilio took shape in the 1st century CE as a working Lusitanian estate, its storerooms lined with large dolia jars for fermenting and storing wine and oil. Excavations begun in 1962 uncovered colored mosaics, coins, sculpture, and Latin inscriptions naming later owners Cardilio and Avita, the source of the modern name. The estate remained in continuous use for roughly 300 years, through a second major building phase in the 4th century. Its first-century core had already stood for decades by 117 CE.
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
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 →