Domus of Publius Confuleius Sabbio, Roman residential ruins in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy

The Domus of Publius Confuleius Sabbio is an excavated Roman residence in Santa Maria Capua Vetere featuring two vaulted rooms with circular skylights. The floors display intricate mosaics, and wall fragments preserve traces of painted frescoes.

Excavations in 1955 revealed the residence of a former slave who rose to prosperity as a merchant of military cloaks. This discovery documents an important phase of Roman economic and social development.

Floor mosaics name the owner, Publius Confuleius Sabbio, and even his architect, most likely set down by Confuleius himself to mark his rise from slave to freedman. In the second room a mosaic inscription greets visitors with a wish, placed beside the panel recording the owner and builder.

The domus is underground, beneath a private apartment block on Corso Aldo Moro in Santa Maria Capua Vetere. Entry is by a double-ramp staircase, and the two vaulted rooms are small, so expect confined spaces. The circular skylight in the south vault is the only opening to the outside.

The first room contains a rectangular basin and circular well that indicate it functioned as a workshop for producing sagum, heavy wool cloaks for Roman soldiers. These features show the space served a commercial production purpose.