Located in Farchetto, the villa of Caselette consists of two groups of rooms, to the north and south, which share a porch, which was the front of the building. The villa belonged to a landowner, of which only a part – about 750 square meters – has been investigated.
The villa had three main construction phases: the first two rooms date back to the period of deduction of the colony of Augusta Taurinorum (25-15 BC). The second phase dates back to the first decades of the 1st century AD, and sees the construction of a building that is then enlarged during the third phase (end 1st century AD), in which the villa is partially rebuilt following a fire. The life of this building is relatively short: as a matter of fact, its attendance ceases from the second half of the 2nd century AD (some modest rooms of the 3rd century are limited to the north-western sector).
The villa shows no luxury elements: as for the floors, they are composed of a layer of cobblestone, one of magnesite shatters, and one of brick shatters (in some cases, there were marble tiles); the walls are made of stone and pebbles. The material found is not abundant: there are ceramic remains (with black paint, thin walls, imported from Gaul and central Italy), preserved at the Museum of Antiquities in Turin.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION AND VISITS
Located to the north of the town of Caselette (Farchetto, Caselette- TO; coordinates Lat. 45° 6’58.79″N, Long. 7°28’49.50″E), the site is open to visits only occasionally. For up-to-date information, please visit the website: http://www.arcalmese.it/