L’edificio polilobato in Via Scavi a Montegrotto Terme. Ipotesi per una sua interpretazione

The archaeological area of Via degli Scavi in Montegrotto Terme, which constitutes an interesting complex for thermo-mineral cures from the imperial era, has been the subject of extensive studies in recent years, with particular regard to the structures pertaining to the baths and the theater; conversely, for the enigmatic so-called polylobate building, which was part of the therapeutic core, a targeted investigation is lacking to date.
The article aims to propose an accurate analysis of this structure on the one hand by examining unpublished documents in the archives of the Archaeological Superintendence of Padua, and on the other hand by presenting precise comparisons with other similar structures attested in coeval thermo-mineral contexts both in Italy and in the western Roman provinces. Finally, also thanks to a reconsideration of the artifacts discovered during the eighteenth-nineteenth century in the area of Via Scavi, an interpretative hypothesis is proposed that recognizes in the so-called polylobate building a sacred-ceremonial building similar to a nymphaeum.