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Ponari Nymphaeum in Cassino: a Roman dining room with water features to rival Pompeii
The Ninfeo Ponari (Ponari Nymphaeum) is located along the road to Montecassino, a stone’s throw from the Roman theatre of ancient Casinum. It is the remains of a luxurious Roman domus built around the mid-1st century BC. What makes it special is the summer dining room cooled by water features. In terms of decorative quality, scholars compare it to the Vesuvian villas.
An artificial grotto for the wealthy of Casinum
There are two connected rooms. The first is covered by a barrel vault, with three niches on each wall. The second is an open atrium with a shallow central basin (impluvium). The original decoration — shells, Egyptian blue tesserae, coloured glass, lapis lazuli — imitated the look of a natural grotto. Later, the structure was restored and modified: the shells were removed and replaced with painted plaster imitating polychrome marble, geometric patterns, and garden-themed frescoes. The flooring, meanwhile, is opus scutulatum, with inlays of coloured stones.
The Ummidia family and centuries of new owners
The domus probably belonged to the gens Ummidia, one of the most influential families in Roman Casinum. During the Second World War the nymphaeum was used as a shelter. It was later transferred to the Ponari family — hence the name — and finally to Bettino Valente, who donated it to the University of Cassino.
