In Roman society the concept of a villa was synonymous with a life of happiness, full of luxuries and free from daily duties. The most noteworthy aspect of large villas was the inclusion of gardens within the residential complex. They were also profusely decorated with statues of all kinds. This lavish setting was exclusively enjoyed by a privileged few.

Citizens who had attained a certain prosperity and wanted to savour the luxuries of the patricians, copied their town houses and villas. They reproduced the architectural elements on a smaller scale and adapted the decorative sculptures to the available space.

A larario was normally found in the atrium of both townhouses and aristocratic villas. This was a small tabernacle where divinities (lares, penates) were kept and worshipped. It also held the genius of the pater familiae.

Portraits of ancestors and emperors were also erected in the atrium, while the peristyle was home to effigies of philosophers, Greek poets and distinguished Romans.

Reliefs and masks, often with Bacchic motifs, were hung between the columns of the peristyle. The water courses, nymphae and gardens were also decorated with sculptures.

The decoration inside the houses was very similar and normally copied from Greek prototypes.

Certain motifs were popular: Apollo, Venus, Diana, nymphs and especially, Bacchus and his companions.

In Tarragona virtually nothing has been preserved of the urban villas. The land from the former Roman residential area was used as landfill for the port during the 19th century and only a few sculptures were saved. Those, and others of unknown origin, but which must have decorated villas or houses, are displayed in this room.