Houses and private spaces have always reflected the social and cultural status of their owners: locations, dimensions, paintings and inner decorations - either in wood or marble - help to discover who the residents were and their personality. In this respect, Pompeii and Herculaneum give us the most representative case studies, thanks to the entirety of the archaeological contexts, while for other cities a complete archaeological evidence is hard to find and reliable contexts must be reconstructed through scattered finds and partial documentation. This is precisely the case of Brixia, a Roman colony in northern Italy, where the long life of the settlement caused the dismantling of Roman houses, buried under medieval and modern buildings. Thanks to an accurate study of many architectural elements, marble furniture and sculptures, aim of this paper is trying to understand taste and style of the ancient inhabitants of Brixia, modern Brescia, their aesthetic and decorative choices and also their wealth, often emphasized by precious materials.
