©MarinaDeFranceschini - Progetto Accademia
42 - PRAETORIUM NYMPHAEUM Description
It is in the Bulgarini property and is in very poor condition.
It was a retaining wall with buttresses that were transformed into decorative niches, where the tartar covering (fake stalactites) with some traces of blue color can still be seen.
The retaining wall between the buttresses, now completely covered by vegetation and dirt, had steps from which the water cascaded down.
One of the buttresses with a niche decorated with tartari
In the center of the Nymphaeum there was a large niche for a statue (later transformed into a pigsty); the vault has collapsed and remains of the Tartar covering can be seen on the fragments.
The statue has been identified with a fragment of colossal seated statue now in the garden of the Barberini Palace in Rome.
The statue restored as Apollo in the garden of Palazzo Barberini at Rome
Function and meaning
This was a scenic backdrop which however had the function of a retaining wall. To be excavated and studied.
SEE: De Franceschini 2016, pp. 145-146, figs. 10-14 with previous bibliography