©MarinaDeFranceschini - Progetto Accademia
19 - IMPERIAL PALACE Description
The building has incorporated an ancient republican villa, which almost a century ago was identified by Lugli, who studied the building techniques which, as is known, differ according to the era (Lugli 1927 and 1932).
The walls of the times of Hadrian were in fact built in opus mixtum, which uses tuff cubilia alternated with regular courses of bricks. Other walls in this area of the villa are built with older techniques, such as opus incertum, opus quasi reticulatum and opus reticulatum.
Exedra PI7 of the ancient republican villa
The date is confirmed by the patterns of the mosaics: in the PI28 portico there are fragments of mosaic with a white background where fragments of colored marble are inserted, which was typical of the Republican age.
In the forme Didactic Museum (closed since decades) is another mosaic of room PI23, with a polychrome perspective grid, also typical of the Republican age.
According to Lugli's study, the ancient republican villa was preceded by a garden, located on a lower level, which corresponds to the current Courtyard of the Libraries; the Cryptoporticus with Mosaic Vault, instead, was its basis villae.
From the Courtyard of the Libraries two twin staircases went up to the Imperial Palace, and also a third staircase that reached corridor PI55.
Above the basis villae the entrance hall of the villa itself was built: in PI57 a very ancient cocciopesto floor decorated with white tesserae was found; it was obliterated by Hadrian, who built the portico PI56 in its place, paved in opus sectile.
On the portico PI56 room PI48 opened, which originally was the tablinum of the republican villa; Hadrian transformed it into a small library.
Next to it, on the eastern side, the so-called Triclinium of the Centaurs PI46 was added with rooms PI45 and PI47.
One of the mosaics discovered by cardinal Marefoschi
During the excavations of Cardinal Marefoschi in 1779 in those three rooms, several panels of very fine polychrome mosaic (vermiculatum) were discovered.
The largest one shows a Centaur fighting with wild beasts, and is now in Berlin in the Pergamon Museum. The others are in the Vatican Museums, in the Gabinetto delle Maschere and in the Sala degli Animali; they have idyllic landscapes, a lion attacking a bull, and scenic masks. (see De Franceschini 1991, pp. 121-125).
Further south is the ancient portico of the republican villa, PI28, which still has the original mosaic with a white background and fragments of colored marbles.
On its east side are the rooms PI30-36, which can be dated to the Republican or Augustan era, depending on the type of pavement and the building technique (opus incertum and quasi reticulatum).
In some of them there are black and white mosaics, which were covered with pozzolana in the 1980's waiting for a restoration that never was made.
The southern side of the portico opens towards exedra PI7, built in the Hadrianic phase. Two small single latrines PI6 and PI8 have been created in the resulting spaces within its walls. In front of the exedra is the open courtyard PI3, paved with opus spicatum.
On the opposite side there is the Nymphaeum PI2, with a series of semicircular steps from which the water descended in small waterfalls, and was collected in a long water basin which still retains traces of blue fresco. It is quite similar to the stepped nymphaeum of the Garden Stadium.
From the PI1 corridor it was possible to access the Outer Peristyle and Golden Square, while on the opposite side to the east there were other entrances to the nearby Hall with Doric Pillars.
On the western side of the Imperial Palace there are other rooms, some of which were built in the Republican era such as PI23, where the above mentioned polychrome mosaic with perspective grid was found.
PI25 instead is the so-called Summer Triclinium, built by Hadrian. It is a small version of the triclinium of the Canopus, with a half dome decorated with seven niches for statues, from which jets of water flowed and were collected in a channel below.
Below it has a semicircular bed in masonry for a Triclinium (stibadium), surrounded by water channels as in the Canopus.
On the opposite side, in front of PI25, recent excavations by the Pablo Olavide University of Seville (Spain) brought to light another apsidal room in 2020, which has been interpreted as a triclinium suspended over the water.
Function and meaning
The presence of precious polychrome mosaics in vermiculatum, the opus sectile and the single latrines show that this building belonged to the group of noble buildings where the emperor and his court lived.
It was built among the first, exploiting and incorporating the rooms of the pre-existing republican villa, which is traditionally attributed to the gens of the Vibii Vari, and therefore to the empress Vibia Sabina.
See: Marina De Franceschini, Villa Adriana. Mosaici, pavimenti, edifici, 1991. 1991. Palazzo Imperiale pp. 103-133 and 405-416, 444-445.