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Today contained in the modern town of Castellammare di Stabia, was an Ancient Roman town.
Which, along with Pompeii and Herculaneum, was engulfed in lava and ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. In fact, it was during this natural disaster that Pliny the Elder was killed in Stabiae.
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Despite originally being discovered in 1749, Stabiae was only completed excavated in 1950, upon which archeologists found the remains of not one, but two ancient civilizations. The older of the two civillisations was that of the Oscan people, who lived there between the 7th and 3rd centuries BC. The main remains from this Italian tribe are contained in a necropolis which houses over 300 tombs.
However, the more famous ruins at Stabiae are the Roman villas which were constructed there in around 89 BC when the town became something of a Roman holiday resort. Amongst these are the 11,000 square foot Villa San Marco with its beautiful frescos and mosaics, Villa Arianna – so named for its magnificent fresco of Ariadne being saved by Dionysus – with its underground tunnel and Villa Del Pastore, which was most likely a bath house.
Stabiae is far less well-known than Pompeii, but offers visitors a great tour of authentic Roman ruins in a quieter environment.
CASTELLAMMARE DI STABIA
Via Passeggiata Archeologica
“Stabiae is the ancient Latin name for the city of Castellammare di Stabia, which lies between Pompeii and Sorrento. “
from November to March
8:30 – 17:00 (last entrance at 15:30)
from April to October
8:30 – 19:30 (last entrance at 18:00)
last admission one hour and a half before closing
Among the many villas found at Stabiae, the most famous are Villa San Marco, Villa Del Pastore, and Villa Arianna. Some of the other villas include Villa Carmiano, Villa del Petraro, and Villa Capella di 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. The graphic and textual documentation of the Bourbon surveys was published in 1881 by M. Ruggiero M. in the book Degli Scavi di Stabiae dal 1749 al 1782 (“On the Stabiae excavations from 1749 to 1782”). The villa was re-buried after the removal of its furnishings and of the better preserved frescoes. Excavations were resumed on 1950 by Libero d’Orsi and O. Elia of the Archaeological Superintendency.
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 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 afrigidarium. 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.
Named for the fresco depicting Dionysus saving Ariadne from the island of Dia (a mythological name for 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.
The archaeological remains of Stabiae were originally discovered in 1749 by Cavaliere Rocco de Alcubierre, an engineer working for king Charles VII of Naples. These ruins were partially excavated by Alcubierre with help from Karl Weberbetween 1749–1782. The ruins that had been excavated, however, were reburied and their location was forgotten until 1950, when a high school principal rediscovered them. The site was declared an archaeological protected area in 1957, and by 1962 many of the ruins had been again uncovered. The remains of both an Oscan settlement (oppidum) and the later Roman town were discovered.
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. As described above, Stabiae became a resort town during this time 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. These villas, which are described below, provide us with some of the most stunning architectural and artistic remains from Roman villas. 2004 saw an Italian-American collaboration between the Superintendency of Archaeology of Pompeii, the region of Campania and the University of Maryland to form the non-profit Archaeological entity, the Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation (RAS). It is the RAS Foundation’s prime goal to excavate, restore and build an archaeological park at the ancient site of Stabiae, a complex of seven or eight Roman villas according to recent geophysical surveys conducted by the University of Birmingham.
A great many artifacts which come from Stabiae are preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.
“Villa of the Shepherd” in English. This villa gets its name from a small statue of a shepherd that was discovered at this site.
This villa measures even larger than Villa San Marco, coming in at 19,000 square metres. The villa was rediscovered in 1967 and includes many rooms, large baths and luxurious gardens. It lacks, however, any domestic rooms, suggesting that it may not have been a residence. One hypothesis is that this is instead avaletudinarium (health spa) that would have allowed people to take advantage of the famous spring waters of Stabiae. It has not yet been fully excavated.
