Nuovi dati riguardo all’architettura, alla scultura e gli impianti di riscaldamento della villa di Palazzo Pignano

The site of Palazzo Pignano in the Province of Cremona near Milano is known, above all, because of a large villa built in the Late Roman period (4th-5th centuries AD). As earlier studies have shown, the area had already been occupied for several centuries before the buildings of Late Roman period. It continued to be inhabited for a lengthy period after the villa was abandoned. The last archaeological excavations (2019-2023) have allowed to acquire new data on the residential spaces in Late Antiquity. New residential rooms were found in the Eastern sector of the complex, near the apsidal hall n. 29-30. One of these was equipped with a heating system which remained active until the 6th century AD. In this area was also recovered a female head of a marble statuette probably depicting Minerva. Finally, some architectural elements recovered in the pars dominica of the villa can be attributed to the porticoed gallery or to the octagonal peristyle.