Overview
- Police reports of illegal excavations at government land in the Castel di Guido/Lorium area triggered emergency archaeological intervention that secured and documented the site.
- Archaeologists recorded well‑preserved 1.5‑metre walls, mosaic floors, painted plaster panels and an atrium with a central sunken pool during the stabilisation works.
- Teams recovered a broken white marble statue of a bearded figure carrying a small animal that researchers say probably represents the rural god Silvanus.
- Preliminary study dates initial construction to the early first century and suggests abandonment by the third century, and investigators say the villa likely belonged to high‑status Roman elites though the owner is not yet identified.
- The find highlights Lorium’s links to emperors and elite suburban life, underlines the value of local reporting and rapid cultural‑authority response, and will be subject to further conservation, study and managed public access.