Villa: Paperback, 68 pages, Frederic P. Miller, Agnes F. Vandome, OmniScriptum

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. A villa was originally an upper-class country house, though since its origins in Roman times the idea and function of a villa has evolved considerably. After the fall of the Republic, a villa became a small farming compound, which was increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity, sometimes donated for reconstructing as a monastery then gradually re-evolving through the Middle Ages into luxurious, upper-class country homes. In modern parlance it can refer to a specific type of detached suburban dwelling. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper classes. According to Pliny the Elder, there were several kinds of villas: the villa urbana, which was a country seat that could easily be reached from Rome (or another city) for a night or two, and the villa rustica, the farm-house estate, permanently occupied by the servants who had charge generally of the estate, which would centre on the villa itself, perhaps only seasonally occupied. There was the domus, a city house for the middle class, and insulae, lower class apartment buildings.