Culture Ministry: €330,000 for Cephalonia Roman villa

The Ministry of Culture is proceeding with works to protect and showcase the Roman villa at Agia Efimia on Cephalonia, through the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cephalonia and Ithaca. The programme includes building a protective shelter over the monument, creating a viewing platform with access for people with disabilities, and conserving the mosaic floors and the stonework. It is an intervention aimed both at saving the archaeological remains and at opening them up to visitors.

Funding for the project amounts to €330,000 and comes from the “Ionian Islands” Regional Operational Programme of NSRF 2021-2027. The shelter is the core of the intervention, since the mosaic floors are particularly vulnerable to rain, damp and sharp temperature swings. The viewing platform, with ramps and a laid-out route, allows visitors to observe the monument without stepping on the ancient surfaces, limiting the wear caused by foot traffic.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, referring to the project, noted that “the archaeological site is being made safe, functional and accessible to all visitors”. The statement sums up the logic of the intervention, which combines conservation with the management of visitor numbers. Implementation is assigned to the competent Ephorate of Antiquities, which is responsible for the monuments of Cephalonia and Ithaca and monitors the state of preservation of the mosaics, which require specialist work and stable conditions.

The villa dates from the 2nd to the 4th century AD and is a characteristic example of a Roman farmhouse in the Ionian. Its ground plan is shaped like the letter “Π”, with a central atrium around which the rooms are arranged, while two mosaic floors survive. The first excavation was carried out in the late 1950s by the archaeologist Vasileios Kallipolitis. The monument is linked to a period in which the Ionian Islands were an important stop on the sea routes of the Roman Empire.