This content was automatically translated. View the original text.
Horace's Villa in Licenza: the Sabine refuge of the "Carpe Diem" poet
Between 33 and 32 BC, Maecenas, the powerful advisor to Augustus and patron of men of letters, gifted Quintus Horatius Flaccus an estate in the Sabine region, near present-day Licenza in the province of Rome. The property spanned approximately forty hectares of woods, vineyards, and olive groves on the Vigne di San Pietro hill, overlooking the Digentia stream (now called the Licenza). The poet spent much of his time there, describing the villa with great affection in his Odes.
What to see today
The complex is organized around two courtyards: the residential area to the north, a large quadriporticus (four-sided portico) to the south, and a thermal bath complex to the west, which was expanded during the Flavian era with new rooms. The floors, featuring mosaics and opus signinum (a terracotta-mortar mix), are still visible. The Orsini Nymphaeum lies about a hundred yards from the archaeological site, built on the site likely corresponding to the fons Bandusiae (Bandusia Spring) celebrated by Horace. The finds from excavations that began in 1911 and continued through the year 2000 in collaboration with the University of California are housed in the Museo Civico Oraziano (Horatian Civic Museum) in the Orsini-Borghese Palace in Licenza.
