## 3 The Virtual Reconstructions of the Villas
### Desenzano: Roman Villa
#### 3.2.3 Wall Decoration  
In formulating a hypothesis for the reconstruction of the wall painting decoration, consideration was given first and foremost to the paintings that were preserved on the walls. The frescoes in situ inform the original decoration of the lower register and, in certain cases, partially that of the middle register. The completion of the elevation of the decorative elements was therefore hypothesised on the basis of comparisons. These are pictorial contexts that serve as references from an iconographic point of view but are only partly consistent with that of the Garda region due to geographical distance, as well as--in some cases--chronological distance; however, they are all united by the same figurative code. This is the case, for example, with the \"garden\" decoration of the _viridarium_, which has illustrious antecedents, such as the hypogeum of the Villa of Livia in Prima Porta [37], the enclosed garden of the Villa Farnesina [28; 38], and that depicted in the niches on the long sides of the so-called _Auditorium_ of [PERSON] [39], but it features a stylised pictorial rendering and a simplified vocabulary that refers to contexts that are chronologically later, such as those of Ephesus, Pergamum, Balaka, and Bulla Regia [40].  
The virtual reconstruction of the painting decoration of the peristyle courtyard follows the paintings still on the wall, i.e., the decoration of the plinth with the motif of a red Greek key that frames stylised eight-petal flowers on a white background [34] and the beginning of the middle register, marked by a red band, painted with a sequence of panels according to a paratactic scheme that is well-suited to passage areas (Figure 25). There are multiple comparisons for this type of decorative scheme, including the motif and the chromatic choice, and they are attested from the 3 rd century AD onwards [41].  
The virtual elaboration of the painted decoration of the _trichora_ took into account first and foremost a painted plaster fragment preserved at the level of the lower register in the western apse of the chamber; this is a portion of the plinth--with a black background--on which a sequence of panels is set: the best-preserved one has a white background with a red border. The development of the decoration vertically in two registers was hypothesised by adopting a decorative scheme based on the combination of panels and painted bands imitating marble (Figure 26), thanks to a comparison with pictorial contexts that are chronologically coeval and belonging to the same territorial area: the villa of Via Antiche Mura in Sirmione [42] and that of [PERSON] on the western shore of the lake [43]. The link between these decorative contexts is exemplified well, for example, via the use of the same geometric scheme both in the mosaic carpet of the trilobate room of the Villa of Desenzano and in the painted ceiling of the Villa of Sirmione, which can be added the close similarity of some decorative motifs. In the villa of [PERSON], a lakeside context dating back to the first half of the 4 th century AD, a large portion of the painted decoration with large panels imitating _sectilia_ is still preserved on the wall (Figure 27). Such local testimonies, therefore, once again confirm, in the late Roman-era pictorial tradition, the use of imitation geometric marble inays in wall paintings. The tendency to employ a common decorative repertoire becomes prominent in the late period when the repertoire of patterns and motifs is shared by not only private but also public buildings.  
Figure 26: Virtual reconstruction of the development of the pictorial decoration in the three-lobed triclinium of the villa in Desenzano (CarraroLab).  
Figure 25: Desenzano. Fragment of painted plaster partially preserved on the west side of the peristyle (University of Verona).