L'impiego del cinabro e del blu egizio negli intonaci dipinti della villa romana di Cottanello

During the archaeological research carried out by the Institute for Studies on Ancient Mediterranean, now Institute of Heritage Science (CNR) at the Roman Villa in Cottanello (Latium) since 2013, a specific interest was reserved for painted plasters, with regard to a general census of the parts still in situ and to the characterization of the constituent elements of painted surfaces. In particular, samples from different rooms as well as fragments found in the room 25 and fragments from the first excavations have been analysed using Optical Microscopy of polished sections, Scanning Optical Microscope Observation equipped with Energy Dispersion Probe, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-Ray Fluorescence. They are representative of the main colours found on the plasters and most of them could be stylistically positioned between III and IV Pompeian style (main building phase of the villa - 1st century AD). The results allowed highlighting the presence of cinnabar and Egyptian blue and their ways of use.