Il riscaldamento degli ambienti non termali nelle villae romane dell’Italia settentrionale: un quadro generale per una nuova ricerca

Many research projects were carried out by the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua on northern Italy Roman houses both in the cities and in the country. 325 domus and 203 villae and farms were analysed, providing a statistically significant picture of planimetric, architectural, technical and decorative solutions. One of the most interesting topic that is possible to analyze is the heating of residential rooms. This seems to have had a significant role in northern Italy, because of the latitude. The paper presents a preliminary picture focusing on the villas. Until now, 28 residential rooms (triclinia and cubicula) equipped with a heating system (ascertained or probable) were founded, mainly constituted by the traditional hypocaustum system. They spread out throughout the entire area, although they are more frequent in the eastern region (Venetia); chronologically, they appeared in the Augustan age and were numerous in the 1st and 2nd century AD and again in the late antiquity. The heating of residential rooms is a very interesting social habit, so far neglected by the studies. The aim is to stimulate archaeological investigations and research into a more accurate analysis of the spaces underneath the floor and between walls, often automatically interpreted as thermal hypocaustum.