The Quintili’s Villa

The Quintili’s Villa was owned by two wealthy brothers, Sesto Quintilian Condiano and Sesto Quintilian Valeriano Maximum (as it was able to determine by their names engraved on the lead pipes through which the water ran), both  consuls in 151 AD. Held in high regard by Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, their wealth and good fortune roused the envy of Emperor Commodus, who accused them of conspiring against him and in 182-183 he killed them and confiscated all the goods. Subsequently, the emperor, had restored the Villa, transforming it into a real palace in the countryside. In the eighteenth century, the vast area on which stand the ruins of the Quintili’s Villa was named “Old Rome” because it was believed that it belonged, given its size, to a city rather than a villa, the greek writer Olimpiodoro wrote that “the villa contained all what an average city may have, including a racecourse, holes, fountains and spas “.

From the surviving structures can be deduced two major construction phases: one dating back to the original structure, and the other dating to the changes desired by Commodus. However, according to studies, it is possible to distinguish five different cores, which extend over an area of ​​about 1,000 square meters, which reaches up to the Appia Nuova: a large “ninfeo” (space adorned with ponds and aquatic plants at which it was possible to have a break, a banquet and spend moments of “otium”) , a racecourse likegarden, a stadium, a residential area and two spa rooms on either side of the residential area. All of the rooms of the complex were equipped with an actual heating system through terracotta pipes into the walls, inside which preheated air was passed.

In the Middle Ages, the powerful Astali family incorporated in their castle the grand complex, especially the monumental “ninfeo” (which also happened with the Castrum Caetani at the  Tomb of Cecilia Metella). In a modern house, near the entrance of the villa on the Via Appia Nuova, an Antiquarium has set up which houses valuable relics found between 1925 and 1929 (when the property belonged to the Torlonia) and those found in the late nineties (when the villa became the property of the State, 1985). In the  National Roman Museum, stored in the Palazzo Massimo, you can admire the great headless statues of Apollo with a citharede and Artemis, both were discovered in ruins of the Quintili during the twenties.