Pompeian-style house discovered in Valley of the Temples, Agrigento

A remarkably preserved Hellenistic-Roman house with Pompeian-style wall paintings and mosaic floors has been unearthed in the Valley of the Temples Archaeological Park in Agrigento, Sicily. Dating to the 3rd-2nd century BCE, the house was renovated between the late 3rd and early 2nd century BCE, receiving elaborate wall paintings and cocciopesto and mosaic pavements across two floors. The structure collapsed during the early Imperial period, either accidentally or deliberately, which sealed and protected the interior decorations. Excavations led by Giuseppe Lepore of the University of Bologna's Department of Cultural Heritage in Ravenna, in collaboration with the Archaeological Park, uncovered the ground floor's cocciopesto floor with colored stone meander patterns and, beneath rubble, fragments of upper-floor wall paintings and a polychrome mosaic meander floor. The house spans about 400 square meters, featuring a monumental pastàs (porticoed space) leading to three main rooms on the north side. The floors and paintings date to the early 1st century BCE. Park director Roberto Sciarratta hopes research will continue, integrating the Hellenistic-Roman quarter into a new route connecting the Temple Hill to the upper terraces of the ancient city and the Pietro Griffo archaeological museum. Regional assessor Alberto Samonà hailed the discovery as part of Sicily's magnificent archaeological season.