Roman latrine in via Garibaldi

The collapse of part of the support wall of the square in front of the church of San Pietro in Montorio on the Janiculum Hill, which occurred in 1963, brought to light the remains of an ancient Roman latrine. Of the room, oriented in a NW-SE direction, only two walls remain, in mixed construction, orthogonal to each other interrupted at the ends. In fact, the construction of the support wall, which we know was erected in 1605 when the access to the church was also arranged, caused the loss of the east side of the room and damaged the other walls.

A canal, approximately 0.40 m wide and 0.80 m deep, runs on three sides (originally also on the E side). The sliding surface of the canal is bipedal and the banks are covered with cocciopesto. The geometric mosaic flooring of the room is therefore distanced from the walls due to the presence of the canal.

Another cleaning service channel runs parallel to the latter, which has now almost completely disappeared. Usually stone seats, generally made of marble, called sellae pertusae, were arranged on the drainage channel, intended for the flow of water, appropriately perforated in the upper part to allow their use, but in this case no trace of this furniture was found, so it is to be believed that a series of perforated mobile tables, arranged on supports probably placed on protrusions, of which two are preserved along the west wall, constituted the seats.

On the west side, a large stretch of the wall still partially covered in plaster is preserved. The fresco pictorial decoration has a linear pattern. The pictorial style, similar to contemporary examples in Rome such as in the domus of via Eleniana and in the villa under the apse of the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, allows us to date the latrine to the last decades of the 2nd - early 3rd century AD.

Photo: Capitoline Superintendence