Varro's Aviary

File:Varro's aviary.jpg (mid-16th century)]]

Varro's Aviary (also known as Ornithon) was a part of the Roman villa built in the 1st century BC ({{circa|40 BC}}{{sfn|Thacker|1985|p=20}}) by Marcus Terentius Varro, an important figure in Ancient Rome at the times of Cicero. While the building itself is long gone, Varro's very detailed description of the aviary is preserved in his book de Re Rustica.{{sfn|Van Buren|Kennedy|1919|p=59}} This description inspired multiple reconstructions since at least the Renaissance era. Varro's villa was located on Via Latina halfway from Rome to Naples,{{sfn|Van Buren|Kennedy|1919|p=59}} the exact location is still unknown.{{sfn|Errico|2022|p=1}}

The aviary was shaped "in a form of a writing tablet with a top-piece".{{sfn|Thacker|1985|p=20}} The footprint of the rectangular part of aviary was 72 x 48 Roman feet, a stream run from this ornithon to the (little-described) musaeum (place dedicated to Muses, evoking the atmosphere of akademia{{sfn|Cellauro|2015|p=215}}) connected by 10 feet wide ambulatio (walkway) forming a 950 feet long loop along the banks of the stream.{{sfn|Cellauro|2015|p=211}}

The focal point of the design was a small island, surrounded by a circular pond with ducks, intended for dining. This element possibly was used as inspiration for the Maritime Theatre at the Hadrian's Villa (on a much larger scale).{{sfn|Van Buren|Kennedy|1919|p=59}} The dining area (triclinium) was covered with a dome made of wood, and equipped with a revolving table, so that the food can be "moved around to all the guests".{{sfn|Thacker|1985|p=20}}

The aviary housed birds "of every kind", but primarily the songbirds, including nightingales and blackbirds.{{sfn|Cellauro|2015|p=212}} At the time of Varro the idea of keeping birds for pleasure ({{langx|la|delectationis causa}}), not just for profit, was novel in the Ancient Rome.{{treccani|avicoltura_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)|Avicoltura|Alessandro Ghigi|1930}}{{sfn|Thacker|1985|p=20}}

File:Birdhouse at Casinum.jpg|Reconstruction plan (early 20th century)

File:Villa Hadriana (Villa Adriana Tivoli) 1000 03.jpg|Maritime Theatre