"Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. The mosaic ceiling of the republican cryptoporticus", in Amoenitas vol XII, pp. 73-99.
Abstract · The Cryptoporticus with Mosaic Vault belonged to an ancient villa of the Re-
publican age which was enclosed by the Hadrianic buildings of the Imperial Palace of Villa
Adriana. Originally it was a basis villae, with four cryptoporticoes illuminated by window-
tunnels. In one of them, the mosaic ceiling has been miraculously preserved; it is one of the
oldest and most complete examples still in situ. The mosaic ceiling has been studied in the
past, but in 2022 the author of this article was able to explore the site, which had been closed
to the public for twenty years. She took new photographs and, by comparing the remains
with the drawings by Lugli and Lavagne, it was possible to reconstruct the patterns of the
decoration. On this occasion, she identified and photographed several signatures of scholars
and antiquarians who explored the Cryptoporticus in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies, which were thought to have disappeared.
Keywords · Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, Mosaics, Graffiti, Antiquarian Sources, Cryptop