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Description
Excavations carried out between 1999 and 2001 during renovations to the former Cinema Trevi uncovered two adjacent and contemporary buildings beneath the cinema, aligned on the west side along the vicus Caprarius or Capralicus. The toponym is attested, in both forms, by ecclesiastical sources from the 12th century. The name likely derives from the presence of an aedicula Capraria, perhaps an area of worship connected to Juno Caprotina. In ancient times, the area under investigation was located within the VII regio, which encompassed the entire eastern Campus Martius and was bounded by the Aurelian Walls, the via Salaria vetus - Pinciana, with its extension called vicus Caprarius, and the via Lata.
The northern building can be identified as an intensive residential complex, an insula of at least three floors with shops on the ground floor. The first construction phase appears to be attributable to the Neronian era, immediately following the fire of 64 AD. A first renovation of the complex is datable to the first half of the 2nd century AD, followed by a second in the age of Marcus Aurelius. Around the middle of the 4th century, the area was transformed into a luxurious domus, of which remains of wall marble cladding and a mosaic floor made of polychrome marble tesserae are still preserved in situ. Around the middle of the 5th century, a violent fire, possibly related to the sack of Rome by the Vandals under Genseric (455 AD), destroyed the ground floor of the domus.
The southern building, of which a large part of the elevation is preserved, consists of large rooms with barrel vaults; the first phase is also Neronian; in the Hadrianic era, two rooms adjacent to the vicus Caprarius were transformed into a large water cistern, probably the castellum aquae of the Virgo aqueduct. Following the cutting off of Rome's aqueducts by the Goths under Vitige in 537 AD, the cistern fell into disuse.
In the medieval period, between the 11th and 12th centuries, the floor level of the area was raised by about 5 meters; on this level, between the 12th and 13th centuries, two separate residential units were built with different construction phases.
The northern building can be identified as an intensive residential complex, an insula of at least three floors with shops on the ground floor. The first construction phase appears to be attributable to the Neronian era, immediately following the fire of 64 AD. A first renovation of the complex is datable to the first half of the 2nd century AD, followed by a second in the age of Marcus Aurelius. Around the middle of the 4th century, the area was transformed into a luxurious domus, of which remains of wall marble cladding and a mosaic floor made of polychrome marble tesserae are still preserved in situ. Around the middle of the 5th century, a violent fire, possibly related to the sack of Rome by the Vandals under Genseric (455 AD), destroyed the ground floor of the domus.
The southern building, of which a large part of the elevation is preserved, consists of large rooms with barrel vaults; the first phase is also Neronian; in the Hadrianic era, two rooms adjacent to the vicus Caprarius were transformed into a large water cistern, probably the castellum aquae of the Virgo aqueduct. Following the cutting off of Rome's aqueducts by the Goths under Vitige in 537 AD, the cistern fell into disuse.
In the medieval period, between the 11th and 12th centuries, the floor level of the area was raised by about 5 meters; on this level, between the 12th and 13th centuries, two separate residential units were built with different construction phases.