Roman Villa of Russi

The Roman Villa of Russi is one of the best preserved rustic villas in northern Italy. Discovered in the 1950s and subject to continuous excavation campaigns, the Villa had an extension of at least 8000 square meters, included a thermal plant (unearthed already in 1939 and recently rediscovered) and other parts of the structure of the complex still to be excavated . Located about 20 km west of Ravenna, it was built in the center of a large farm whose products were destined for the men of the Roman military fleet stationed in Classe, the ancient port of Ravenna. Until the first century. BC these rustic villas were modest small country houses. The current site corresponds to the second phase of the building, dating back to the first imperial era (I century - II century AD), built on a previous construction of the Republican era. The complex looks like a large rectangle oriented on the north-south axis, completely surrounded by a portico supported by brick columns. In the rectangle two peristyles (arcaded courtyards) can be identified: a small residential one and a large rustic courtyard. The neighborhood of the dominus (the owner) is located to the north: it certainly consisted of a two-storey building, adorned with elegant wall paintings and with black and white mosaic floors with geometric motifs. To the north-west you can see a small quarter formed by three rooms, which was intended for the villicus (the factor) or the procurator (the administrator) and separated the residence of the dominus from the houses of the servants. The rest of the pars rustica, which opened onto the large porticoed courtyard, consisted of production plants, the conservation of agricultural products and irrigation structures (cisterns and wells). Recent excavations to the east have revealed an orchard surrounded by a portico, which forms the side of a new residential area with heated rooms. The recovered archaeological material shows that the villa was well integrated into the surrounding commercial perimeter.