Welcome strangers. Are you looking for a hot bath? A room to rent? Come right in and make yourself at home. My name is Julia Felix. My father, Spurius, was not a nobleman, you know, but nobody could beat him in business. When he died, he bequeathed to me this beautiful house with its huge garden, that occupies the entire block and is only a stone’s throw from the amphitheatre. I am extremely attached to this place where I have spent the happiest years of my youth. Here I took my first steps with the help of my nanny. In my room I learned to spin with my grandmother. In the banquet room we received our relatives and guests, with the pomp and circumstance fitting for a family that was not aristocratic but could afford a luxurious house.
In addition to being very dear to me, I also owe my economic independence to this building. Let me tell you: a few years ago the whole city of Pompeii was severely damaged by a terrible earthquake. What hardship we suffered during that time! Nothing worked in the city. There were few places left in which to relax and indulge in the care of the body, because the Stabian Baths were under restoration and the new Central Baths were still being built. Prompted by events, I had the idea of extending and opening my beautiful bathhouses to the public, thereby also guaranteeing myself an income. So this was how I began my activity as a property entrepreneur. I was the one who decided to have the rental notice painted on the wall next to the entrance. It has to be seen from afar which is why it is written in large red letters. Luxurious bath facilities, commercial spaces and rooms on the upper floors: this is what you can rent here! But I keep a good part of the house for myself, so as to keep the memories of my youth alive.
This is my new project and it is a way to generate income from my property and to manage it in a creative and independent manner. It gives me great satisfaction and I get to meet new people all the time. So I, Felix, am happy, in name and in fact!
PRAEDIA OF JULIA FELIX
Julia Felix was the owner of a large complex (the so-called Praedia) that occupies the whole of insula II, 4 and consists of a domus with a Tuscan atrium, a large ornamental garden with a series of residential rooms opening onto it, a bathhouse, and a huge park. The insula was occupied during the 2nd century BC, but the major architectural renovation carried out by Julia Felix dates to the middle of the 1st century BC, when she succeeded in transforming this residence into a source of income. The bathhouse, in particular, was transformed from a private facility into a public one: from the entrance at number 6, customers could access the colonnaded courtyard, which served as a waiting area. This was followed by the frigidarium, the tepidarium with its suspensurae (raised floor system), the circular laconicum (sweating room) and the calidarium with an apse on the southern side. She also rented out the tabernae, small shops equipped with counters on Via dell’Abbondanza.
