The users of Roman baths always found three environments in the building, no matter how big or important it was: the frigidarium, the calidarium, the tepidarium.

Fig. 1 - In green the new Baths II complex (re-worked by C. Tronchetti from Bacco-Serra 1998).

The frigidarium, as the name says, was not heated and was for cold water baths; used to clean you of the sweat caused by going through the other heated areas. It was usually larger than the other areas and had one or two baths with steps, fed through pipes (fig. 5) channelled in the walls.

The frigidarium of the Fordongianus Baths, belonging to the building's second stage, is the entrance hall to the thermal path, as is shown by the large door, then blocked in the Late-Antiquity period (fig. 1). 

There are two small baths in the room, one rectangular and the other semi-circular (figs. 2-4).

Fig. 2 - Entrance to the frigidarium (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

Fig. 3 - Semi-circular bath (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

Fig. 4 - Detail of the bath with steps (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

Fig. 5 - Detail of holes in the wall where the water was channelled
(photo by Unicity S.p.A.).