Myths and landscapes painted in the domus of Cremona

Thousands of fragments of painted plaster, which came to light in the excavation of the Domus del Ninfeo in Piazza Marconi, as well as constituting a very important testimony of the evolution of Roman painting in Cisalpine from the beginning of the 1st century BC to 69 AD, tell the many stories of house and its owners. An extraordinary example is the "Room of Ariadne", a cubiculum (room for sleeping) on whose walls various moments of the Cretan myth were depicted: first abandoned by Theseus after the feat of killing the Minotaur, later discovered by Dionysus asleep on the beach on the island of Naxos, Ariadne finally appears as the triumphant bride of the god himself.

From another excavation, in via Colletta, come the decorations of the Domus dei Candelabri dorati, also witnesses of how widespread the refined artistic culture deriving from Hellenism was in Cremona residences. Fragments which, after long years of studies, analyzes and restorations, are given back to us in their meaning and beauty also thanks to comparisons with some frescoes, present in the exhibition, from Pompeii, Rome, Ostia and Verona, and with scenographic multimedia reconstructions .