Archaeological Museum of Bologna

Museo Civico Archeologico
Via dell'Archiginnasio 2 - 40124 Bologna
Tel. 051.27.57.211

Direzione e Uffici
Via de' Musei 8 – 40124 Bologna
Tel. 051.27.57.211 - Fax 051.26.65.16
mca@comune.bologna.it

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Collections / Sections / Roman Bologna

The domus

Few fragments come from the areas of bolognaise domus and villae. They depict the presence of rich and weatlhy houses, according to the living custom of roman people in the centre of Italy.

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Since the 1st century BC mosaic with geometric or figurative motifs decorated the floors of the main rooms in the houses. Floors in other rooms were made in opus signinum (cocciopesto) or with little hexagons. Walls were painted and some rooms heated through some tubuli inside them. Richer houses can also have heated rooms thanks to an hypocaust, or some decorated tanks and pools.


Internal spaces, often courtyards, were decorated with antefixes and other decorated pieces, as one in Piazza della Mercanzia, which is like a boar head, or marble statues.


In the main rooms, for example those called triclinii, the owners express their wealth by decorations and furnitures: often there were tables called trapezofori, with the representation of Dionysus, god of wine and banquet, with grapewines and ivy, but also beds for guests.

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Images

Exhibition rooms | Room XII - Roman Bologna