Roman Villa - Architecture of The Villa Complex

Architecture of The Villa Complex

For general context, see Roman architecture.

Upper class, wealthy Roman citizens in the countryside around Rome and throughout the Empire lived in villa-complexes, the accommodation for rural farms. The villa-complex consisted of three parts.

The villa urbana where the owner and his family lived. This would be similar to the wealthy-person's in the city and would have painted walls.

The villa rustica where the staff and slaves of the villa worked and lived. This was also the living quarters for the farm's animals. There would usually be other rooms here that might be used as store rooms, a hospital and even a prison.

The villa fructuaria would be the storage rooms.These would be where the products of the farm were stored ready for transport to buyers. Storage rooms here would have been used for oil, wine, grain, grapes and any other produce of the villa. Other rooms in the villa might include an office, a temple for worship, several bedrooms, a dining room and a kitchen.

Villas were often plumbed with running water and many would have had under-floor central heating from a hypocaust.

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