Vada Volaterrana (Rosignano Marittimo, LI). Grandi Terme

The Great Baths are located in the port district of Vada Volaterrana and occupy an area of approx. 2470 m² on a standard plan; they were a public building with a monumental entrance along the main street. Almost the entire building has been heavily afected by agricultural work: most of the walls are reduced to the level of foundations. The baths were most probably built in the early 1st century AD.; substantial renovations were carried out in the early 2nd century AD and in the following centuries. No movable decorative elements that could defnitively be attributed to the baths were found. Only the paving in opus sectile in vestibule (4) and the foor and wall marble covering of the frigidarium (3) pool have survived. Instead, very many foor and wall slabs have been found out of context, comprising diferent kinds of marble, Italian and provincial. The building saw a progressive functional and structural abandonment between the late 6th and early 7th centuries AD; the well and a pool of the frigidarium were flled by a rubbish dump and a necropolis occupied the portico.