Pompeii: Luxurious Villa with Private Baths and Banqueting Hall Discovered

Pompeii – A sensational discovery has been made in the archaeological excavations currently underway in Insula 10 of Regio IX of Pompeii: a thermal complex large private villa, directly connected to a sumptuous banquet hall.

This discovery turns out to be one of the largest and most complex examples of private baths within a Pompeian domus ever brought to light so far.

The close connection between the baths and the banquet hall (the so-called “black hall”) suggests that Roman homes were real stages for sumptuous celebrations. These events were not simple private dinners, but fundamental occasions for the owners to gain electoral consensus, promote the careers of friends or relatives and affirm their social status.

The baths, composed of calidarium, tepidarium, frigidarium and apodyterium, could accommodate up to thirty people, as evidenced by the benches in the changing room. The cold room, in particular, is a space of great visual impact: a peristyle of ten meters on each side with a pool in the center.

This spatial arrangement finds a parallel in the Satyricon of Petronius, where the rich freedman Trimalchio organizes a sumptuous banquet. Before the dinner, the guests go to the baths, underlining the importance of this rite in Roman society of the time.

The domus is located in Insula 10

The entire domus, which occupied the southern part of Insula 10, certainly belonged to a prominent figure in Pompeian society. The second and third style decorations on the walls testify to its historical importance.

"This discovery demonstrates how the house was a real stage, with the owner at the centre of the scene”, underlined director Gabriel Zuchtriegel. “The excavation of the peristyle was particularly complex”, added Anna Onesti, director of the works, “but thanks to innovative techniques we managed to preserve the integrity of the structure”.

The main entrance to the domus was located to the south, which led to a large peristyle. On the sides of the peristyle there were numerous rooms, including a large oecus decorated in the second style and a Corinthian oecus with a megalographia currently being excavated.

This extraordinary find sheds new light on the daily life and social habits of Pompeians, offering a snapshot of an opulent and refined society.