November 28 December 7, 2013

From Basauri to Castellammare di Stabia

Comenius team left
Loiu airport at 06:50
a.m. and arrived in
Frankfurt at 09:10 a.m.
Departure from
Frankfurt at 11:30 and
arrival to Capodichino
airport at 13:25.
The most famous of the findings at Stabiae are the
villas that come from the time between the destruction
of Stabiae by Sulla in 89 BC and the eruption of Mount
Vesuvius in 79 AD. Stabiae became a resort town and
was particularly favored for its view of the Bay of
Naples and the surrounding mountains. Stabiae was
also well known for the quality of its spring water,
which was believed to have medicinal properties. The
ideal placement and qualities of this location drew
many wealthy Romans to build luxurious villas on the
ridge overlooking the bay.
The guide was the archaeologist Paolo Gardeli of RAS
Foundation (Restoring Ancient Stabiae)
Visit to villa San Marco
This villa, deriving the name from a chapel that existed in its
proximity in the 18th century, was the first one to be explored in
the course of excavations in Bourbon times carried out between
1749 and 1754.
One of the largest villas ever discovered in Campania, measuring
more than 11,000 square metres,

it has an atrium, a courtyard
containing a pool, a triclinium with views of the bay, and a
peristyle, a colonnaded courtyard. There are also many other
small rooms, a kitchen and two internal gardens. Villa San Marco
also has a private bath complex that is made up of
a calidarium, tepidarium, and a frigidarium. This villa is also
important because it has provided frescoes, sculptures, mosaics
and architecture, which show styles and themes comparable to
those found in Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Villa San Marco: atrium, mosaics and private baths.
Villa San Marco Atrium
Villa San Marco: mosaics and private baths.

Villa San Marco: perystile and frescoes.
Villa S. Marco: perystile Villa S. Marco: frescoes
Villa San Marco: view of mount Vesubius and the gate
of ancient Stabiae.
Visit to villa Arianna. Named for the fresco
depicting Dionysus saving Ariadne from the island of
Naxos, this villa is particularly famous for its frescoes, many
of which depict light, winged figures. It is difficult to get a
clear sense of this villa, however, because it grew over the
course of 150 years. It has one of the largest courtyards of
any Roman villa; measuring two stadia in length. Another
feature of Villa Arianna is its private tunnel system that
links the villa in its location on the ridge to the sea shore,
which was probably only between 100 and 200 metres away
from the bottom of the hill in Roman times. The shoreline
has since changed, leaving the archaeological site further
inland than it was in antiquity.
Villa Arianna: Flora, the best known painting
Villa Arianna: the fresco depicting Dionysus saving Ariadna
Villa Arianna: atrium with frescoes
Villa Arianna: pumice stone from the eruption of Mount Vesubius