You could enter the house of a rich Roman from the vestibolo, a corridor which led
to a large hall, atrio. The hall's roof had a squared opening in the middle,
"compluvium", to let the smoke out and gather the rain water, in a bacin in the middle
of the floor "impluvium". Around the hall there were the bedrooms, or cubicoli and
on the front wall there was the entrance to a large living and dining room, the
tablino. Then you entered the peristilio, a garden surrounded by a colonnade, rich
in statues, fountains and flower-beds. Various rooms, among which the dining room,
triclinium and cubicoli led to the peristilio. The kitchen, store-room, the portico, the
back exit and rooms rented as shops completed the house.
Insula
The poor people of Rome lived in shabby, dirty houses. Those who had little
money could live in the insulae, buildings of two or more stories, overcrowded, without any
light and comfort. In those houses life was often hard, they lacked water that thus had
to be carried in from an outdoor fountain; nearly all of them were without a bathroom; furthermore
they were made of wood and therefore constantly at risk of fire.
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