Mosaico Villa Romana

The discovery, in 1899, of a mosaic in a good state of preservation in a vegetable-garden of the family Francini-Naldi in the centre of Asciano, doesn’t amaze, seen the Etruscan origins of the place. The rests refer probably to a thermal structure, maybe of sulphurous baths, situated on a elevated position over the torrent Bestina. We have the trace also of a solid parametrical wall. The mosaic is made up of two spaces: a rectangular area, used as a receiving room and an exedra( a space provided with fixed or mobile seat) with a square-shape, used as a relaxing room for the owners. The decoration of the room consists of a repeated floral decoration into tangent circles. They are 4 on the shortest side and 9 on the longest one. It is still present a part of the circled listel fillet, which enclosed everything. In every circle there is a rosette with four trilobite leaves with a heart-shaped listel. Among the trilobite leaves there are small branches or stylized gemmas and among the circles there are denticulate leaves, which are set out as a cross. The colours are red, yellow, bluish-grey, white and black. The design is surrounded by a double order of bands, of which the more internal consists of a bell-shaped decoration, which forms rhombus alternatively at straight and curved sides, of a white colour on a black background, while the external one has small black arches, which are put together with ogives. The decoration of the exedra, which communicates with the room by means of a band with squares and white ovulos on a background on the inside, is limited by an external band with small arches and ogives and it consists of a star-shaped decoration, with 8 rhombus which alternate to the squares the stars and with rhombus, on the inside of which there are Solomon’s knots, while the squares hold hanks. The colours are yellow, red, white and black. The mosaic of Asciano dates back to the imperial period, where it was very diffused (some houses of Pompei of the I century A.C. and Ostia of the II century A.C.) and for the room to the African mosaics( Timgad in Algeria, III and IV century A.C.).