Lo scavo di via dei Piatti 11 a Milano: nuovi dati sulle pavimentazioni d’età romana

Thanks to a recent reassessment it has been possible to suggest a new reconstructive hypothesis about the archeological finds in via dei Piatti 11, Milano. This site was situated inside the city walls, in the Southern area of Mediolanum. A monumental complex was probably built here around the middle of the I century A.D. It was composed of an elevated portico standing on top of a podium that enclosed a paved square. A fragment of the flagstones has been discovered still standing on its foundation made of earth filling. A 2 cm deep groove was engraved on its surface: it was probably used to embed the vertical slabs that covered the podium. A mosaic fragment made of black tesserae containing regular shaped stone elements was also found. Studies conducted on other sites have shown us that this mosaic technique was used in Milan as a decoration of high-status domus from the Late Roman Republic to the Early Empire. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that the fragment was part of a house built in via dei Piatti and later demolished to make way for the Imperial Age complex. It is well known that this area and its vicinity were an urban residential district from the Republic to the Late Antiquity.