Il progetto di catalogazione TESS Lombardia : dati acquisiti e prospettive di ricerca

The digitalization of floor mosaics from western and eastern Lombardy – carried out in the TESS Project – has collected 1088 published occurrences. The most popular paving techniques are the mortar floor (447) and tessellatum (369), but also the opus sectile (81), with stone slab (87), brick (63) and cobblestone floors (14) are attested. Occasionally, the discovery of mosaic floors is only mentioned, quoting the site of the area of an urban centre, without providing any information on the technical and decorative aspects. Also this kind of information – vague and rather pointless for advancing any typological and iconographical consideration – evidences the presence of ancient structures in an area. The most widespread decoration is the geometric style, both in black and white, but also with a sober polychromy. Figural decorations are scarce and clustered in eastern and south-eastern Lombardy, but are attested also in the west. The modern borders of Lombardy do not reflect the Roman and Late Antique territorial organisation, when the area included part of Regio X, Venetia et Istria and XI, Transpadana: This factor must be taken in consideration during the analysis of technique and decoration – in term of patterns and organisation of the decorated space – in mosaics from the region. This paper aims at providing a synthetic analysis of the whole data collected, starting from the paving technique and decoration and considering the relationship between floor, paved space and architectural context, applying a chronological and topographic approach, shading light on aspects like the decorative repertoire, colour and design.