CORTONA | The archaeological sites of the area

Roman Villa of Ossaia: a nearby witness of the Roman civilization 

In location Ossaia, precisely La Tufa, there is an important testimony of the Roman civilization of the area. It was found a Roman Villa that dates back to the late Imperial age. The archaeological excavations, that brought to life the villa, started in 1992. It has got an area of about 1000 square meters, and it is divided into 3 different housing phases. The archaeologists dated the first between 50 BC and the half of I century AD. The second phase can be dated from 80 – 100 AD. The third phase records a recovery between the age of Tetrarchy and the Constantinian one until the half of V century AD. The villa is located inside a landed property belonged probably to an illustrious family of Etruscan lineage: the Vibii Pansae. They were early integrated in the leading late-Republican Roman class. Due to the many excavation campaigns, the archaeologists are able to determine the architectural features and the planimetry of the monumental peristyle discovered exceptionally preserved. After some years a new part of the villa was discovered, and from this part you could see the silhouette of Cortona. On that new part discovered, the archaeologists found a spectacular mosaic with inserts of polychrome marble flakes. Thanks to this amazing artifact, we are able to have a graphic reconstruction of the villa planimetry, and for example we know that the villa has got a considerable size, with big house and rooms. The mosaic and the coloumns that were found in the Roman villa, nowadays are kept inside the MAEC (Museum of the Etruscan Academy of Cortona). All these decorative findings are a unique example of the Roman Late-Republican age.