©MarinaDeFranceschini - Progetto Accademia
Part 8 - Retaining Walls
Villa Adriana has a series of terraces placed on different levels, surrounded by large retaining walls which functioned as city walls for protection and defense.
They have never been studied and surveyed, yet they are a fundamental feature of the Villa.
Some had large comb buttresses, which were used to strengthen them, such as those surrounding the Accademia Esplanade, the Praetorium Esplanade, [FIG. 11] or others visible near the Palestra (Gymnasium) .
fig. 13 - Muri di contenimento
della Spianata del Pretorio
It is self evident that the large artificial esplanades were built before the buildings that were in them, therefore the study of the reciprocal relationships can provide evidence to date the different building phases.
Each esplanade was world on its own, a sort of “container” in itself, which was accessed through few access points, limited and monitored for security reasons, with ramps or bleachers; there was a 'public' part of the Villa for public events, and a 'private' one.
In some ancient maps, such as the general one by Penna [1831-1836], 'Roman roads' are marked.
There is no systematic study of the access routes and paths, except for the one by Chiappetta [2008] which is not supported by evidence.
On the occasion of the Jubilee of 2000, a monumental entrance was discovered which led to the Vestibule and then to the Canopus: see Mari-Reggiani-Righi [2001].
Nothing is known of the other entrances that surely existed on the northern and eastern sides of the Villa; the current paths probably follow the ancient ones.
Thorsten Opper with the British Museum is studying and reconstructing the access routes near the Pantanello.
©MarinaDeFranceschini - Progetto Accademia