The Volusii villa is one of the largest in the Roman area: it was discovered in 1960 during the construction of the Autostrada del Sole and today it has mostly been excavated and restored.

The complex was built from 50 BC. onwards by Quinto Volusio and it was further improved and extended by L. Volusio (Senator in 12 BC.), while other works were carried out during the course of time right up to the late Imperial Age. The Volusii were also responsible for promoting the settlement of the Lucus Feroniae colony.

The villa was built in two distinct stages: the central body or stately quarters belongs to the first stage while during the second stage the entire existing residential quarters were restored and the large peristyle, around which the servants quarters were arranged, was created.

At the beginning the villa must have looked very much like a luxury country house, while later it became more of a vast rural complex with many slaves working the land, the only example of the kind that has come down to us so well preserved.

The central body of the mansion is comprised of a peristyle with 6 x 4 Tuscan limestone columns and an ambulatory (corridor) paved with coloured marbles inlaid on a black background.

A number of different rooms open out onto the peristyle: a vast tablinium (dining room) with a triple entrance has a communicating room to the south and another room to the North; an oecus (living room), paved in opus sectile (with marble inlay); an exedra divided into two parts.

A couple of cubicles (bedrooms) also open out onto the peristyle along with a couple of cosy recesses. A few of the rooms have beautiful polychrome mosaics with a “coffered” and “cancelled perspective” decoration which includes birds, flowers and various symbols; other are paved with black and white mosaics.

The rooms to the south of the main stately quarters belong for the most part to the Republican Age. The constructions of this first stage were built in “opus incertum” and the flooring is predominantly in polychrome mosaic. The “opus reticolatum” panelling technique is instead used for the second stage and here the mosaics are black and white. 

The large “servants” quarters extend out to the North and East of the main stately apartments; they were accessed along a paved road which leads directly into the countryside. The huge peristlye of this area had columns on three and a half sides. Twenty or so room paved with bare stone flagging opened out onto the porticoes: almost certainly these were small cells for the estate’s slave population (perhaps a few hundred).

To the West of the villa complex, one can make out part of the basement of the ancient “hortus” (garden) with a “cripto-portico”, which was considerably raised compared to the Tiber Valley.

In this garden, during the Age of Augustus, a large “exedra” with three niches was built: three marble statues were found here: a Hercules in true scopadic style and the copies of two famous portraits: a Menander, and a Euripides. The idea was clearly to recreate the feel of a “Gymnasium” in this room, a place where physical exercise went hand in hand with the intellectual pursuit of strolling while discussing philosophy, a combination that was particularly appreciated by the Roman aristocracy of the late Republic and Early Empire.