In 1737 Monsignor Alessandro Furietti excavated in the Accademia of Villa Adriana, discovering magnificent mosaics and sculptures, including the famous Centaurs and the Red Faun, which are now in the Capitoline Museums in Rome.

The Faun was found in fragments, and the restoration was entrusted to Clemente Bianchii and Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, two of the leading specialists of the time. There were great studies and discussions among the scholars to decide how to redo the missing parts, based on the comparison with other copies of this statue found for example in Lanuvio.

The skill of the sculptors-restorers was such that it becomes difficult to distinguish the original parts from the remade ones. In fact, Bartolomeo Cavaceppi himself wrote that some of them «from one finger recreated a whole statue», and then sold it as an original. It was the classic rip-off given to the very rich English noblemen, who wanted to bring home a special souvenir coming from Villa Adriana or other archaeological sites.

Starting from the Renaissance and even more in the eighteenth century, the restoration was total and integrative: the sculptures had to be whole and complete. To redo the missing pieces, the same ancient marbles found during the excavations were used, in this case the Rosso antico marble from Cape Tenaro in Greece.

In the Red Faun the bunch of grapes in his right hand has been restored, as well as the cista at his feet, a large part of the goat (but one leg is original) and the tree trunk with the flute, plus some parts of the legs.

The original details are of extraordinary beauty, such as the Nebrid knotted on the right shoulder: a goat skin with a splendid head with horns and closed eyes, or the hooves, a small masterpiece.

The bunch of grapes obviously alludes to wine and to the cult of Dionysus, to whom the Accademia was dedicated, Centaurs and Fauns belonged to the dyonisiac Cortege, as we explain in the book Villa Adriana, Architettura Celeste. I Segreti dei Solstizi.