Roman villa of Ossaia

[2] The large, terraced villa was built (shown by tile stamps) by C. Avilius (or Annius) Capitus in the late 2nd or eariy 1st c.

The lower terraces were converted into a large-scale factory producing wine amphorae, lamps and roof and floor tiles.

The villa was situated close to the Roman road to Cortona and was raised off the valley floor on a platform supported by a cryptoporticus.

[5] An immense cistern in opus vittatum (alternating courses of brick and stone) dating from the 2nd c. AD dominated part of the site, and was decorative as its exposed southern face to the road included a line of arches resembling a cryptoporticus.

Despite the fact that the area was modified over the life of the site, the original architectural and decorative features were maintained, and changed only to express the taste and fashion of the owners in the various periods.

This area was built over the Etruscan sanctuary and was the private and most traditional part of the villa, based around an atrium with a peristyle and garden.

After the first century AD the large rooms of Area 2 cut up into small rooms with hearths, roof tile drains cut through earlier mosaic floors and the floors covered in mortar and used for the production of bricks and tiles maybe by slaves,[7] as indicated by the vast quantity of cooking wares, numerous large plates of Middle Adriatic Terra Sigillata for communal eating.