Livia’s Villa in Prima Porta

Livia’s Villa, wife of Octavian Augustus, was discovered in 1863 at Prima Porta, north of Rome. It was quite a sensation to find an underground room, the walls of which were entirely decorated with an amazing fresco of the summer garden.

We can see an elegant fence with regular niches, various trees full of fruit, birds, and a well-kept lawn. The blue of the sky blends with the green of the vegetation, and the whole creates a wonderful, calming landscape. Probably during summer meals 2,000 years ago (the room was probably a dining room used in hot weather) Livia’s eyes were looking at the same idyllic painting that we can admire today in the Roman Palazzo Massimo.