Naples tour

So called because of the splendid bronze statue of the dan-cing Faun which decorates one of its impluvia. This can be justly considered the most beautiful example of a private house left to us from ancient times, because of its size, its architectural importance and its decorations. It was probably built by Publius Siila, nephew of the dictator, who had the difficult job of organising the first installation of the Roman colony and of reconciling the interests of the originai inhabitants and the new colonists. Apart from the dancing Faun, this house also provides the most incredible example of mosaic art the huge mosaic of the Battle of Alexander the Great and other pictures, which are ali in the National Museum of Naples. The building of this house took place at the height of the flowering of the Samnite civilization, and during the greatest period of influence of Hellenistic architecture, The architectural structure and decorations, in fact, show an admirable fusion of Italian and Hellenistic elements. In front of the entrance is the greeting Have. The entran-ce hall is furnished with double-doors and high up on the walls are two shrines for the Lares the household gods in fine stucco-work. The floor is in 'Opus sectile', composed of pieces of coloured marble, like the basin of the impluvium. The rear part of the house was developed around two atria the first is the main one, in Tuscan style, following the tra-ditional pian of Italian houses. The second, instead, is a tetrastyle atrium, with the roof resting on four columns, as in the Hellenistic style. At the sides of the tablinum of the main atrium were two triclinia diningrooms which, for the composed of imitation doors and columns decorated in porphyry red stucco-work the threshold is formed by a mosaic showing a land - scapc of the Nile and the floor was a luxurious carpet stretched out in the form of the famous mosaic of the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius. To the sides of this exedra there are two summer triclinia. A narrow corridor, stretching from the eastern side of the peristyle, was used to isolate the service area of kitchen, bathroom and stable.