Since 1982, the Archaeological Superintendency of Rome has been conducting investigations in the Villa of Livia, named by ancient sources ‘ad gallinas albas’, in memory of an extraordinary event that happened to Livia, wife of Octavian Augustus, while she was going to her possessions: “…to Livia Drusilla…an eagle dropped from above into her lap…a hen of extraordinary whiteness that held in its beak a laurel branch with its berries. The haruspices ordered to raise the bird and its offspring, to plant the branch and guard it religiously. This was done in the villa of the Caesars overlooking the Tiber river near the IX mile of the Via Flaminia, which is therefore called ‘at the Hens’; and a wood miraculously grew from it.” (Pliny, Natural History XV, 136-137).
The precise topographical location and the imposing retaining walls of the ‘basis villae’, always in sight, have exposed the complex to repeated spoliations since the end of the empire. In 1863, some fortunate but not adequately documented explorations led to the discovery first of the famous statue of Augustus loricated, now in the Vatican Museums, and immediately after of the semi-underground room with walls frescoed with the well-known garden paintings, detached in 1951 for conservation purposes and transferred to the National Roman Museum, now exhibited at Palazzo Massimo alle Terme.
In the area, acquired by the Italian state, several excavation campaigns have been conducted allowing the discovery of much of the ancient structures, particularly the private area with atrium and small inner garden, the representative area with large frescoed rooms and mosaic and ‘opus sectile’ floors overlooking the peristyle. Recent explorations of the large thermal complex led to the definition of a first phase from the early Flavian period with the presence of two ‘piscinae calidae’ and a ‘natatio’, followed by a radical restructuring in the Severan period. A large U-shaped porticoed terrace with garden, probably the ‘lauretum’ mentioned by the sources, adorned the eastern side of the imperial residence.
In the Antiquarium, located near the current entrance to the archaeological area, the most significant finds from the site are displayed.
Information about Villa di Livia
Via Villa di Livia, 125
00188 Rome (Rome)
0633626826
ssba-rm@beniculturali.it
https://archeoroma.beniculturali.it
Source: MIBACT
