Roman Villa of Orpheus
A rich house located outside the walls of Tridentum with a large hall decorated with a beautiful polychrome mosaic depicting Orpheus intent on enchanting the beasts with the sound of the lyre.
In Trento in 1954, on the occasion of the works for the construction of the new scientific high school in via A. Rosmini, a large room was identified with a mosaic from the Roman age in which Orpheus is represented, enchanting the fairs. Subsequent archaeological investigations, conducted from 1958 by the Superintendence of Antiquities of the Venetians then also competent for the Trentino territory, subsequently brought to light other environments belonging to the same building.
The news made a big splash in the city given the extraordinary importance of the remains. With great commitment from the Province of Trento and the Ministry, it was decided to create an archaeological site that could be visited. The "Villa romana di via A. Rosmini" was inaugurated on 18 October 1966, but only a few days later, between 4 and 6 November, following the flood that scourged Italy, mud and sludge mixed with naphtha invaded the entire area, necessitating demanding restoration work.
The Roman villa of Orpheus was built outside the walls of Tridentum in an area that seems to have been reserved for residences of considerable prestige.
The oldest finds that demonstrate the use of the area where the villa was built for residential purposes date back to the very first decades of the first century AD. The period of greatest development of the residential area is between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, a period to which the structures still visible belong that are part of a larger complex that had to continue beyond the limits of excavation.
Of particular value is the environment of considerable size characterized by the presence of a splendid polychrome mosaic carpet in which Orpheus is depicted playing the lyre surrounded by animals.
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