Editing Lake Nemi (section)

===Villa at Santa Maria===
[[File:Villa Santa Maria.png|thumb|150px|Villa Santa Maria]]

The villa was excavated between 1998 and 2002.<ref>P. BILDE The Roman villa by Lake Nemi: from nature to culture – between private and public, Proceedings of a conference at the Swedish Institute in Rome September 17–18, 2004 p 1</ref> It was built in the late Republican era, mid-first century BC, and underwent 4 remodelling phases until the 120s AD. The size and quality of the villa, and the fact that it was the only one located on the lake strongly indicate that it was an imperial villa and the one ''in nemorensi'' (in Diana’s sacred wood) owned by [[Julius Caesar]].<ref>Cicero Att. 6.1.25</ref> It stayed in imperial ownership probably being used as a base by Caligula.

It is situated on a large artificial terrace of which stretched 260 m along the shore with a width of 60 m and 9 m high above the lake.

The northern sector was smaller and simply decorated and was probably the living quarters for the villa’s servants. The rooms had geometric monochrome floors and a small bath suite north of the villa built in the fourth phase probably also for servants.

The central part was sumptuously decorated for "public" functions and entertainment while the southern part was for private family use. The central part was built around a large peristyle 21.3 x 13.5 m with a rich marble ''[[opus sectile]]'' floor. On the north side of this peristyle was a large ''[[triclinium]]'' overlooking the lake, also with an opus sectile floor. Surrounding the peristyle on western and southern sides were living rooms (''[[cubicula]]'') decorated with opus sectile floors and walls with coloured stucco.

The private wing was very richly decorated and was dominated by two large features intended for the owner's private uses: a long pool and a huge exedra, between which were the residential quarters and baths of the owner. The exedra had a semicircular main room of diameter 21 m and two wings of total 48 m width, built against the rock. Parallel to the exedra was a 1.1 m wide water channel. The long pool built in the early first century AD was over 63 m long, 4.3 m wide and 1 m deep with 0.75 m wide mortar walls was cut partly into the rock of the terrace. At its southern end was a circular pool with steps leading into the basin. It was parallel to the terrace wall with a garden between them. The channel was fed from a cistern, 34 x 8 m and height 6 m, which still exists above the villa.<ref>P. BILDE The Roman villa by Lake Nemi: from nature to culture – between private and public, Proceedings of a conference at the Swedish Institute in Rome September 17–18, 2004 p 4</ref>