Palazzi di Casignana near Locri: a palatial residence in late-antique Calabria

Abstract

In 1964 an enormous Roman villa was discovered at the town of Palazzi di Casignana on the Ionian coast of (modern Calabria) in the “toe” of Italy, 15 km south of the A.D., it was rebuilt on a monumental and lavish scale between the 3rd and mid-4th c., passing through several phases until its abandonment around 450.1 Its opulence shows that enormous wealth existed in this region during the 4th c.,2 a time when the senatorial aristocrat Q. Aurelius Symmachus was appointed while his father served as prefect of Rome (A.D. 364-65).3 According to G. A. Cecconi, it is legitimate to correlate the importance