An ancient winery has been discovered in Italy where the Roman elite gathered to watch winemaking, new analysis reveals.
took a trip to a lavish facility to celebrate a very different theatrical spectacle: winemaking.
According to a new analysis released Monday, the complex was built or expanded around 240 AD to allow the very elite of the Roman world — possibly including emperors — to view the traditional production process, such was the importance of wine and agriculture to the nobility’s wealth and power. The villa was at its height a mini-city spanning 24 hectares and was likely built by the Quintilii brothers, who both served as consuls of Rome in 151AD. They were killed by Emperor Commodus in around 181AD, who then seized their properties.
A section of paving found in the excavated western dining room. Archaeologists think lavish dinners were held here, possibly hosting emperors.The crushed grapes then went to two mechanical presses before the resulting brightly-colored liquid flowed into niches, creating a fountain-like effect across a façade made from white, grey and red marble strips.
The theatrical nature of this process is underlined by the Rome region being absent from Roman writers' discussion of the greatest winemaking areas.
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