Casignana
Comune
Location of
Casignana is located in Italy
Casignana
Casignana
Location of in Italy
Casignana is located in Calabria
Casignana
Casignana
Casignana (Calabria)
Coordinates: 38°6′N 16°5′E / 38.100°N 16.083°E / 38.100; 16.083
CountryItaly
RegionCalabria
Metropolitan cityReggio Calabria
FrazioniBianco, Bovalino, Caraffa del Bianco, San Luca, Sant'Agata del Bianco
Area
[1]
 • Total24.54 km2 (9.47 sq mi)
Population
 (2018-01-01)[2]
 • Total742
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)

Casignana is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in region of Calabria, Italy and located about 35 km (22 mi) east of Reggio Calabria.

It is best known for the monumental ancient Roman imperial villa at Palazzi di Casignana which can be visited.[3]

Imperial Villa at Palazzi di Casignana

mosaic from Roman Villa at Casignana
Villa Palazzi di Casignana
Latrine

It was an extensive luxurious villa maritima located on the seashore and probably on the ancient road linking Locri and Rhegion (Reggio Calabria).[4]

The residential part of the villa has rooms arranged around a large peristyle courtyard. The "room of the four seasons" and apsidal room have mosaic floors.

On the opposite side of the modern road is a richly decorated large private bath complex. Mosaic floors include the frigidarium ("room of the Nereids") dated to the 3rd century which depicts a marine thiasos in large white and green tiles with four female figures riding a lion, a bull, a horse and a tiger terminating in a fish tail. The room has an octagonal plan with four apsidal sides and has two basins for cold water. The calidarium with a hypocaust heating system and clay pipes on the walls, also has an octagonal plan and mosaic flooring in small tiles and must have been covered by a vault. The complex also includes a rectangular hall paved with coloured marble slabs (opus sectile).

There is a monumental nymphaeum with cisterns.

The Roman statio of Altanum was also located at the villa.[5]

Festivals

  • On 16 August the festival of San Rocco is held. Many rides, food and fun activities surround the town on this special day. It is celebrated by carrying the statue of San Rocco around the town as a symbol of his travels then entering the statue in the church symbolises his canonisation as a saint.
  • Easter day is celebrated by reenacting the frunttata (resurrection of Jesus Christ) with holy icons and statues followed by mass and the sacrifice of a lamb to represent the death Of Christ.
  • After Easter day it is paquarella; on this day it is time to go into the country and harvest the wheat and crops of that summer. It also is a time to picnic in Aspromonte National Park to eat all the leftovers of the Easter celebration.

Demographic evolution

References

  1. ↑ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. ↑ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. ↑ La Villa Romana di Casignana https://www.bronzi50.it/siti/la-villa-romana-di-casignana/
  4. ↑ Maria Gabriella Bruni, The Monumental Villa at Palazzi di Casignana and the Roman Elite in Calabria (Italy) during the Fourth Century AD. Doctor of Philosophy in Classical Archaeology University of California, Berkeley, 2009
  5. ↑ Francesca Le Pera, Le stazioni di sosta in Calabria tra Tardoantico e Altomedioevo. Università degli studi di Siena

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