![TermeRotondaCT](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/TermeRotondaCT.JPG)
The Baths of the Rotonda (Italian: Terme della Rotonda) are the remains of one of several
Roman public baths in the city of
Catania
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
, Sicily. Built between the 1st and 2nd century CE, they are not far from the
Roman theatre
Roman theatres derive from and are part of the overall evolution of earlier Greek theatres. Indeed, much of the architectural influence the Romans came from the Greeks, and theatre structural design was no different from other buildings. However ...
and the
odeon
Odeon may refer to:
Ancient Greek and Roman buildings
* Odeon (building), ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions
* Odeon of Agrippa, Athens
* Odeon of Athens
* Odeon of Domitian, Rome
...
. In the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
era, the church of Santa Maria della Rotonda with its characteristic dome was built upon the remains of the Roman baths. Its walls are still covered in medieval and baroque frescoes.
History
According to recent studies carried out in 2004–2008 and again in 2015, the Terme della Rotonda would date back to the 1st–2nd century CE. Enlarged during the 3rd century CE (a period of considerable enrichment for the city of
Catania
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
) the thermae were then abandoned. Towards the end of the 6th century CE, and in the Byzantine era, a church was then built on the Roman ruins. Alongside the
Bonajuto Chapel, La Rotonda represents the only surviving Byzantine building in
Catania
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
.
![Terme della Rotonda 08](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Terme_della_Rotonda_08.JPG)
Arguably dedicated to
St Mary the Virgin since its first establishment, the church was originally oriented to the North. From the 9th century to the 16th century, the grounds surrounding the church were used as a
graveyard
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
, and several tombs can still be seen amidst the ruins of the Roman baths. The
1169 Sicily earthquake
The 1169 Sicily earthquake occurred on 4 February 1169 at 08:00 local time on the eve of the feast of St. Agatha of Sicily (in southern Italy). It had an estimated magnitude of between 6.4 and 7.3 and an estimated maximum perceived intensity of ...
partly destroyed the Byzantine
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
. The church was then re-oriented to the East, and a new ogival
portal
Portal often refers to:
* Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel
Portal may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Gaming
* ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...
was opened on the West wall, opposite the new altar. In the 16th century, a new entrance was opened on the South wall, and the church was again re-oriented to the North.
The building was long considered to be the oldest church in Catania, an inscription originally placed above the entrance suggesting that
St Peter
) (Simeon, Simon)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire
, death_date = Between AD 64–68
, death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire
, parents = John (or Jonah; Jona)
, occupation ...
himself had consecrated it to
St Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
in 44 AD. Early modern historians believed the dome to be a Roman structure, and many went as far as to conjecture that it may have served as a model for the Roman
pantheon
Pantheon may refer to:
* Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building
Arts and entertainment Comics
*Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization
* ''Pantheon'' (Lone St ...
. This tradition held sway until the 18th century, when the Roman baths were unearthed, and the dome revealed to be of later construction.
Ignazio Paternò Castello, Prince of Biscari, an eighteenth-century Sicilian aristocrat and archaeologist, interpreted the baths as part of a more extensive spa complex extending as far West as
Piazza Dante.
The church was damaged in the 1943 bombing, which completely destroyed the nearby church of Santa Maria della Cava.
[Maria Grazia Branciforti, 'Le Terme della Rotonda. Notizie preliminari degli interventi negli anni 2004–2008', in Maria Grazia Branciforti and Claudia Guastella (eds), ''Le terme della rotonda di Catania'', Palermo: Regione Siciliana, 2008, pp. 30–33.] Between the 1940s and 1950s works were carried out to consolidate the structure. As part of these "conservation" activities directed by
Guido Libertini, many of the frescos that covered the walls of Santa Maria della Rotonda were removed.
Between 2004 and 2008, excavations were performed in the church and in the nearby area. This led to the discovery of nine rooms and several tombs. In 2015, the entire block to the North of the church was expropriated, and excavations were carried out in the area. As part of these excavations, archaeologists brought to light an imposing
Castellum
A ''castellum'' in Latin is usually:
* a small Roman fortlet or tower,C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War; 2,30 a diminutive of ('military camp'), often used as a watchtower or signal station like on Hadrian's Wall. It should be distinguished from a ...
aquae connected to a branch of the
Roman aqueduct of Catania as well as a quadrangular courtyard surrounded by
exedra
An exedra (plural: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek sense (''ἐξέδρα'', a seat out of d ...
s, which is best interpreted as the original entrance to the ''
thermae
In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...
''.
[Giovanna Buda, Fabrizio Nicoletti, Viviana Spinella, ]
Catania. Scavi e restauri a nord della Rotonda
', in F. Nicoletti (ed),
Catania Antica. Nuove prospettive di ricerca
', Palermo: Regione Siciliana, 2015, pp. 507–572.
Description
Roman thermae
![Planimetria terme della Rotonda](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Planimetria_terme_della_Rotonda.png)
The
thermae
In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...
consisted of several rooms and pools. The main room (number 1 in the picture) was arguably a
frigidarium
A frigidarium is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool.
The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is thought ...
, a room with a cold bath. To the East is the
calidarium
230px, Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor.
A caldarium (also called a calidarium, cella caldaria or cella coctilium) was a room ...
, a room with a hot water bath (number 2). This room was heated through a
Hypocaust
A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...
system beneath the floor. The
pilae stacks
Pilae stacks are stacks of pilae tiles, square or round tiles, that were used in Roman times as an element of the underfloor heating system, common in Thermae, Roman bathhouses, called the hypocaust. The concept of the pilae stacks is that the fl ...
(or suspensurae) which once supported the floor are still clearly visible. To the West of the frigidarium is a large room paved with marble slabs. To the South are several other rooms dating to the 2nd and 3rd century: two small circular rooms (perhaps saunas – number 4 in the picture on the right) with hypocaust floors, and a
tepidarium
The tepidarium was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from t ...
, a room with a warm bath. Other quadrangular rooms are to the North of the frigidarium, in the area where the church now stands. The remains of the
Castellum
A ''castellum'' in Latin is usually:
* a small Roman fortlet or tower,C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War; 2,30 a diminutive of ('military camp'), often used as a watchtower or signal station like on Hadrian's Wall. It should be distinguished from a ...
aquae, a tank or reservoir connected to the
aqueduct, and a courtyard surrounded by
exedra
An exedra (plural: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek sense (''ἐξέδρα'', a seat out of d ...
s that served as the main entrance to the baths, can still be seen next to the church.
Church
The building, with a square plan, has two entrances – one on the South wall, with a 16th-century limestone portal, and one on the West wall, with a 13th-century
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
portal. The main chancel is opposite the South portal and the remains of a second one can be seen to the right of the main entrance. The dome is 11 m in diameter.
Frescoes
![Terme della Rotonda 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Terme_della_Rotonda_03.JPG)
The "restorations" carried out by
Guido Libertini in the 1950s led to the destruction of most of the frescoes that once covered the interior walls of the Church of Santa Maria della Rotonda. Nevertheless, the chancel still preserves fine medieval frescoes. The figures of two saints can be seen in the western
apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
(on the left hand side as you enter the chancel). The first one, on the right, represents
St. Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Demre ...
and dates back to the 12th century.
[Claudia Guastella, 'Ecclesia Sancta Maria de Rotunda: vicende e prime ricognizioni', in Maria Grazia Branciforti and Claudia Guastella (eds), ''Le terme della Rotonda di Catania'', Palermo: Regione Siciliana, 2008, p.84-87.] Other studies identify him as
St Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of
Neocaesarea
Niksar, historically known as Neocaesarea (Νεοκαισάρεια), is a city in Tokat Province, Turkey. It was settled by many empires, being once the capital city of the province. Niksar is known as " Çukurova of the North-Anatolia" due to i ...
, but this interpretation seems less likely. The second fresco, on the left, is certainly later (13th century) and represents
St. Leo of Catania, also known as the Wonderworker – the caption Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΛΕΟΝ, in Greek characters, is clearly legible on the left.
Traces of an
Annunciation
The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...
, also from the 13th century, and fragments of Byzantine decorations can be seen on the eastern wall of the chancel.
The baroque frescoes at the base of the dome represent St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Agatha, and St. Lucy alongside the Evangelists Luke, Matthew, Mark, and John. Above these figures, a Latin inscription reads:
QUOD INANI DEORUM OMNIUM VENERATIONI SUPERSTITIOSÆ CATANENSIUM EREXERAT PIETAS IDEM HOC PROFUGATO EMENTITÆ RELIGIONIS ERRORE IPISIS NASCENTIS FIDEI EXORDIIS DIVUS PETRUS APOSTOLORUM PRINCEPS ANO GRATIÆ 44 CLAUDII IMPERATORIS II. DEO. OP. MAX. EIUSQUE GENITRICI IN TERRIS ADHUC AGENTI SACRAVIT PANTHEON.
Citations
General bibliography
* Maria Grazia Branciforti, Claudia Guastella (eds), ''Le Terme della Rotonda di Catania'', Palermo: Regione Siciliana, 2008.
* Giovanna Buda, Fabrizio Nicoletti, Viviana Spinella, ''Catania. Scavi e restauri a nord della Rotonda'', in F. Nicoletti (ed), ''Catania Antica. Nuove prospettive di ricerca'', Palermo: Regione Siciliana, 2015, pp. 507–572.
* Vincenzo Cordaro Clarenza, ''Osservazioni sopra la storia di Catania, cavate dalla Storia Generale di Sicilia'', Catania, Salvatore Riggio, 1833, volume 1.
* Francesco Ferrara, ''Storia di Catania sino alla fine del Secolo XVIII'', Catania, 1829.
* Giovanni Florio Castelli, ''Memorie storiche intorno la distruzione dei vetusti monumenti in Catania'', Catania: Tip. Caronda, 1866.
* Francesco Giordano, ''La Rotonda – Mito e verità di un Tempio catanese'', Catania: Edizioni Greco, 1997, isbn 978-88-7512-492-2
* Guido Libertini, ''Scoperte recenti riguardanti l'età bizantina a Catania e provincia. La trasformazione di un edificio termale in chiesa bizantina (La Rotonda)'', in ''Atti dell'VIII Congresso Internazionale di Studi bizantini'', Palermo, 3–10 aprile 1951, Roma, Associazione nazionale per gli studi bizantini, 1953.
* Francesco Paternò Castello di Carcaci, ''Descrizione di Catania e delle cose notevoli ne' dintorni di essa'', Catania, 1841.
* Ignazio Paternò Castello, ''Viaggio per tutte le antichità della Sicilia'', Napoli: Stamperia Simoniana, 1781.
* Giuseppe Rasà Napoli, ''Guida alle chiese di Catania e breve illustrazione delle chiese di Catania e sobborghi'', Catania: 1900.
{{Authority control
Ancient Roman baths in Italy
Archaeological sites in Sicily
Buildings and structures in Catania