Category Archives: ITALY

Princely tomb of Iron Age mystery man discovered in Italy. And there’s a chariot inside

Princely tomb of Iron Age mystery man discovered in Italy. And there’s a chariot inside.

A lavish ‘Princely tomb’ belonging to an Iron Age man was found in Italy full of treasures including a bronze helmet, weapons and a whole chariot. The tomb of a pre-Roman prince has been saved from ‘imminent’ destruction after aerial photos revealed the ancient treasure trove before it could be built over.  

The body of the unidentified prince has not been found and no mound remains to mark his resting place – it may have been lost while the site was used for farming. The hoard, found in Corinaldo, Italy, was on the site of a future sports complex and wasn’t spotted until a survey of the land was carried out before the building started. 

The value of the discovery and the site is now being assessed before any decision over whether to move the tomb or move the sports complex is made. 

Inside the tomb archaeologists found the remains of a complete chariot, it’s chassis can be seen on the outer edge of this block, as well as weapons and armour
Princely tomb of Iron Age mystery man discovered in Italy. And there's a chariot inside.
The full study of the pottery and other finds within the tomb, including the chassis of what was likely a chariot (seen here) will likely prompt entirely new insights into the cultural, trading and gift-exchange relationships of the aristocracy in the area
‘Aerial photography led to the first identification of the site,’ said Professor Boschi. The grey area in this photo highlights where the tomb was found

The tomb is believed to date back to the seventh century BC when it was constructed for a prince of the largely-unknown Piceni people, whose land was eventually annexed by Rome in 268 BC. 

‘We identified circular crop marks, comparable to large funerary ring ditches,’ said Federica Boschi, an archaeologist at the University of Bologna. 

‘A large and slightly off-centre pit contained an extraordinary collection of cultural material.’

It is the only discovery of its kind in the region, the archaeologist confirmed.

 ‘As the first such monument identified and excavated in northern Marche this has provided an extraordinary opportunity to investigate a site of the Piceni culture,’ said Professor Boschi. 

‘Until now, this culture has been poorly documented and little understood despite its undoubted importance in the pre-Roman development of the area.’ 

She added: ‘The recovery from complete obscurity and imminent danger of archaeological material of this scale and importance is a rare event within contemporary European archaeology.’ 

The body of the unidentified prince has not been found and no mound remains to mark his resting place – possibly both were destroyed during the land’s long history of agricultural use. 

Nonetheless, Professor Boschi believes that the lavish tomb is evidenced enough of his status. 

She said: ‘The extraordinarily rich funerary deposit testifies to a high-status tomb dedicated to a princely leader within the early Iron Age society of the region.

‘One outstanding find among the hundred or more ceramic vessels recovered from the pit was an olla imported from ancient Daunia. 

‘This undoubtedly symbolises the commemorated leader’s significant political, military and economic power. 

‘The full study of the pottery and other finds will undoubtedly prompt entirely new insights into the cultural, trading and gift-exchange relationships of the aristocracy in the area.’ 

After seeing aerial photos of the tomb site, archaeologists initially performed a resistivity survey, where electrical currents are run through the ground to see if anything metallic is buried there. 

‘Aerial photography led to the first identification of the site,’ said Professor Boschi. 

‘A resistivity survey then provided an initial understanding of the extent and internal articulation of the funerary area, including a third ring-ditch not revealed by the aerial photographs. 

‘A targeted geomagnetic survey then produced significant information about the survival of the underground deposits, providing supporting secure evidence for a massive deposit of ironwork.’

It’s not entirely clear what will happen to the site next, whether the tomb and its contents will be moved or whether a new home will be found for the sports centre. The findings have to be properly valued, both for their financial worth and their cultural worth, before anything can happen.

‘The next steps are going to move toward the valorization and public fruition of the site within and in agreement with the project of the new sports complex,’ said Professor Boschi.

Bolza family turns 1,000-year-old Italian castle into Hotel Castello di Reschio

Bolza family turns 1,000-year-old Italian castle into Hotel Castello di Reschio

A 10th-century castle in the Umbrian hills has been restored and transformed into a hotel by Count Benedikt Bolza and his family, who created custom furniture for its 36 suites, restaurant and spa.

Welcoming its first guests in spring 2021, Hotel Castello di Reschio comprises 30 suites within the historic castle. The hotel sits within the sprawling Reschio estate, which was acquired by Count Antonio Bolza in 1994, lies on the border between Umbria and Tuscany and is dotted with farmhouses.

The crumbling buildings were slowly restored into private homes by his son Benedikt and daughter-in-law Donna before they turned their attention to the site’s impressive 1,000-year-old castle and surrounding structures.

The family lived in the stone “Castello” for a decade while they worked to protect and restore the architecture, then create interiors that respect the ancient building while offering modern comforts.

In total 30 suites were built within the castle itself, with some rooms having views of the central courtyard garden, while others look out over the rolling hills.

A further six suites were built next to the parish church.

All of the rooms were decorated with terracotta-brick or wooden floors, hand-stitched linen curtains, Italian fabrics, and locally crafted marble and brass vanities.

Benedikt Bolza also designed and crafted bespoke beds and lighting for the hotel via his own furniture brand, BB for Reschio. These are mixed with portraits, photos and other curios sourced from local antique markets.

“Benedikt has embraced an organic approach to the design, championing local craftsmanship and creating thoughtful, whimsical spaces that are filled with comfort and wit, while artfully nodding to the fascinating characters who once resided within the castle walls,” said the family.

The Tower Suite, which is entered over the castle’s gateway and spread over five levels, boasts two bedrooms, a living room, a study, and a roof garden with an open-air bathtub.

Dining options for guests include the Ristorante Al Castello, located in the castle’s western ramparts and serving Italian dishes made with produce grown on the estate.

The verdant Palm Court is a new structural addition modelled on iron-and-glass Victorian conservatories, which is intended as a space for reading, conversation or enjoying cakes and cocktails from the adjacent bar.

Another alternative is Il Torrino, the converted watchtower that serves light fare and drinks, and overlooks an oval swimming pool.

The hotel spa is situated in the vaulted stone cellar, where hammams, saunas and plunge pools are atmospherically lit by shards of sunlight through the arrow slits and windows.

Guests seeking a more active experience can explore the estate on foot or bicycle, or take horse-riding lessons at the Equestrian Centre. Many of the region’s historic towns and cities are also a short drive away, for those who wish to explore further afield.

Castles and ancient buildings across Italy have been converted into guest accommodation while maintaining their original charm and character.

Another example, also in Umbria, is a 12th-century watchtower that was reconstructed and turned into a holiday retreat.

Researchers discover exclusive kitchenware set in Roman officer’s villa

Researchers discover exclusive kitchenware set in Roman officer’s villa

An exclusive kitchenware set in the villa of a Roman officer in the legionary camp Novae in Bulgaria has been discovered by Polish archaeologists. Consisting of pots with lids, bowls and cups, the researchers also found glasses resembling today’s beer glasses.

The area of research conducted by Polish archaeologists in Novae.
The area of research conducted by Polish archaeologists in Novae.

Carried out by a mission of the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre of the University of Warsaw, the archaeologists are continuing excavations of the so-called House of Centurion. 

This is one of the largest buildings previously exposed in the area of the camp Novae, occupying an area of a quarter of a hectare and resembling a luxurious villa rather than a military commander’s quarters. 

The centre of the complex is a spacious courtyard with a pool with niches on its ends. The walls of the building were decorated with wall paintings and the floors in some rooms were lined with ceramic plates.

Lead archaeologist Professor Piotr Dyczek said: ’Unexpectedly, one of the most interesting discovered artefacts was a set of kitchenware used in the House of Centurion. The set is unique. 

“Not only is it made of great quality clay, but it also presents a full set of used forms, indirectly giving us insight into the culinary tastes of the lady of the house.

“In addition, the execution and clay are of very good quality.

A vessel was discovered in the House of Centurion.

“There are also small cups, one beer pint that resembles our modern pints. But the pot we discovered has no handle and its surface is formed so that it can be easily and firmly held in the hand.

“Its size indicates that food was prepared for a small group of people, probably the centurion and his deputies or the guests.”

The dishes were either made in a single pot or boiled and roasted – a pan fragment is preserved. The researchers also found oyster shells next to the set which they assume are the remnants of a feast.

Dyczek continued: “After conservation and analysis of the vessels, we will be able to say more about the food. It will be also possible by analysing the bones we have found nearby. It is already clear that the food prepared for centurion was more sophisticated than that for ordinary legionnaires.”

A vessel was discovered in the House of Centurion.

The House of Centurion also had porticos, mandatory in Roman residential architecture, and an extremely large (nearly 40 m long) hypocaust system used to heat some of the rooms and the bath complex that included pools. 

READ ALSO: REMAINS OF WOODEN SAFE EXCAVATED FROM THE BURNED-OUT ROMAN VILLA IN SPAIN

This year, archaeologists also discovered a toilet. Dyczek said: “The only part preserved to this day is a hole in the ground, which once was timbered with boards. This is an important discovery because there are very few of them known from similar buildings in the Empire.”

A vessel was discovered in the House of Centurion.

In a rare find, archaeologists discover a 2000-year-old ‘slave room’ in the Italian city

In rare find, archaeologists discover 2000-year-old ‘slave room’ in Italian city

The room containing three beds and one window was excavated in a villa buried by the 79 A.D. volcanic eruption. Officials say it offers “a very rare insight into the daily life of slaves” in the ancient city.

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a “slave room” at a Roman villa in Pompeii, officials said Saturday.

They said the rare find in the ancient city, which was buried in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., appeared to be in an excellent state of preservation.

In rare find, archaeologists discover 2000-year-old ‘slave room’ in Italian city
A “slaves room” at a Roman villa, containing beds, amphorae, ceramic pitchers and a chamber pot is discovered in a dig near the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, destroyed in 79 AD in a volcanic eruption, Italy, 2021.

Earlier this year, a perfectly intact ceremonial chariot was also uncovered at the site in southern Italy. Archaeologists believe the room likely housed slaves who were charged with maintaining the chariot. 

What was found in the room?

The 16-square-meter (170-square-foot) room had three wooden beds, ceramic pitchers and a chamber pot.  Two beds were about 1.7 meters long (nearly 5 feet, 7 inches) and one just 1.4 meters. The room had only one small window. 

In the corners of the room, there were amphorae — a type of container — that seemingly belonged to the master of the house. Officials believe slaves kept their belongings in two amphorae under the beds.

The archaeologists also found a wooden box in the middle of the room and a drawbar leaning against the bed. 

Nearby, a wooden chest contained metallic objects and textiles that “appear to be parts of harnesses for horses,” according to the Pompeii archaeological park.

A ‘window’ on daily life of enslaved

Officials hailed the discovery as a rare insight into slavery and the daily life of the enslaved. 

“This is a window into the precarious reality of people who rarely appear in historical sources, written almost exclusively by men belonging to the elite,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Pompeii’s director-general.

The “unique testimony” into how “the weakest in the ancient society lived … is certainly one of the most exciting discoveries in my life as an archaeologist,” Zuchtriegel said in a press release.

The room was discovered during a dig at a suburban villa. “We did not expect to find such a room. Yet we often walked past it,” said Zuchtriegel, who was born in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg.

“This new important discovery enriches our understanding of the everyday life of the ancient Pompeians, especially that class in society about which little is still known,” Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said.

Pompeii, which was rediscovered in the 18th century, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy and repeatedly uncovers sensational finds.

Unlocking 2,000-year-old Herculaneum scrolls were buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted.

Unlocking 2,000-year-old Herculaneum scrolls were buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted.

Artefacts from the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried in ash during an explosive Mount Vesuvius eruption, was a scale-out at the British Museum in 2013. But could even bigger treasures still lie underground, including lost classical literature?

Scholars have been investigating the lost works of ancient Greek and Latin literature for centuries. Books were found in monastic libraries in the Renaissance. Papyrus scrolls were discovered in Egypt’s deserts in the late 19th century. But only in Herculaneum in southern Italy has an entire library from the ancient Mediterranean been discovered in situ.

On the eve of the catastrophe in AD 79, Herculaneum was a chic resort city on the Bay of Naples, and during the hot Italian summer many top families went out to relax and recover. It was also an area where Rome’s richest people were involved with cultural uniqueness-none no other than Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a politician and Julius Caesar’s father–in–law.

In Herculaneum, Piso built a palatial seaside villa, its wide façade exceeding 220 m (721 ft) alone. When excavated in the middle of the 18th century, there are more than 80 high-quality bronze and marble statues, including one of the Pan with a goat. When he came to plan his own exercise in cultural showing off, J Paul Getty chose to copy Piso’s villa for his own Getty museum in Malibu, California.

Piso’s grand villa, which has come to be known as the Villa of the Papyri, also contains the only library to have survived from the classical world. It is a relatively small collection, some 2,000 scrolls, which the eruption nearly destroyed and yet preserved at the same time.

A blast of furnace-like gas from the volcano at 400C (752F) carbonised the papyrus scrolls before the town was buried in fine volcanic ash which later cooled and solidified into rock. When excavators and treasure hunters set about exploring the villa in the 18th Century, they mistook the scrolls for lumps of charcoal and burnt logs. Some were used as torches or thrown onto the fire.

But once it was realised what they were – possibly because of the umbilicus, the stick at the centre of the scrolls – the challenge was to find a way to open them. Some scrolls were simply hacked apart with a butcher’s knife – with predictable and lamentable results. Later a conservator from the Vatican, Father Antonio Piaggio (1713-1796), devised a machine to delicately open the scrolls. But it was slow work – the first one took around four years to unroll. And the scrolls tended to go to pieces.

The fragments pulled off by Piaggio’s machine were fragile and hard to read. “They are as black as burnt newspaper,” says Dirk Obbink, a lecturer in Papyrology at Oxford University, who has been working on the Herculaneum papyri since 1983. Under normal light the charred paper looks “a shiny black” says Obbink, while “the ink is a dull black and sort of iridesces”.

Reading it is “not very pleasant”, he adds. In fact, when Obbink first began working on them in the 1980s the difficulty of the fragments was a shock. On some pieces, the eye can make out nothing. On others, by working with microscopes and continually moving the fragments to catch the light in different ways, some few letters can be made out. Meanwhile, the fragments fall apart. “At the end of the day, there would be black dust on the table – the black dust of the scroll powdering away. I didn’t even want to breathe.”

This all began to change 15 years ago.

In 1999, scientists from Brigham Young University in the US examined the papyrus using infrared light. Deep in the infrared range, at a wavelength of 700-900 nanometres, it was possible to achieve a good contrast between the paper and the ink. Letters began to jump out of the ancient papyrus. Instead of black ink on black paper, it was now possible to see black lines on a pale grey background.

Scholars’ ability to reassemble the texts improved massively. “Most of our previous readings were wrong,” says Obbink. “We could not believe our eyes. We were ‘blinded’ by the real readings. The text wasn’t what we thought it was and now it made sense.”

In 2008, a further advance was made through multi-spectral imaging. Instead of taking a single (“monospectral”) image of a fragment of papyrus under infrared light (at typically 800 nanometres) the new technology takes 16 different images of each fragment at different light levels and then creates a composite image.

With this technique, Obbink is seeking not only to clarify the older infrared images but also to look again at fragments that previously defied all attempts to read them. The detail of the new images is so good that the handwriting on the different fragments can be easily compared, which should help reconstruct the lost texts out of the various orphan fragments. “The whole thing needs to be redone,” says Obbink.

So what has been found? Lost poems by Sappho, the 100-plus lost plays of Sophocles, the lost dialogues of Aristotle? Not quite.

Despite being found in Italy, most of the recovered material is in Greek. Perhaps the major discovery is a third of On Nature, a previously lost work by the philosopher Epicurus.

But many of the texts that have emerged so far are written by a follower of Epicurus, the philosopher and poet Philodemus of Gadara (c.110-c.40/35BC). In fact, so many of his works are present, and in duplicate copies, that David Sider, a classics professor at New York University, believes that what has been found so far was in fact Philodemus’s own working library. Piso was Philodemus’s patron.

READ ALSO: THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS CONTAIN GENETIC CLUES TO THEIR ORIGINS

Not all of the villa’s scrolls have been unrolled through – and because of the damage, they suffer in the unwinding process that work has now been halted. Might it be possible to read them by unrolling them not physically, but virtually?

In 2009 two unopened scrolls from Herculaneum belonging to the Institut de France in Paris were placed in a Computerised Tomography (CT) scanner, normally used for medical imaging. The machine, which can distinguish different kinds of bodily tissue and produce a detailed image of a human’s internal organs could potentially be used to reveal the internal surfaces of the scroll. The task proved immensely difficult, because the scrolls were so tightly wound, and creased.

“We were able to unwrap a number of sections from the scroll and flatten them into 2D images – and on those sections, you can clearly see the structure of the papyrus: fibres, sand,” says Dr Brent Seales, a computer science professor at the University of Kentucky, who led the effort.

Divers Just Found Four 2,200-Year-Old Roman Battering Rams Used During The Punic Wars

Divers Just Found Four 2,200-Year-Old Roman Battering Rams Used During The Punic Wars

An Ancient Roman battering ram was used to end the First Punic War.

The First Punic War, fought between Ancient Rome and Carthage for supremacy over the western Mediterranean, began in 264 B.C. It was the most prolonged naval conflict in antiquity. For 23 years on the seas from Sicily to North Africa, warships clashed with their battering rams — four of which have just been found.

Each of these colossal artefacts was made of bronze and weighed 450 pounds. Formerly fitted to the bows of Roman warships, they tore into the enemy vessels of Carthage at the Battle of the Aegates on March 10, 241 B.C. The fight was so brutal that it ended the First Punic War in a single day.

After thousands of years on the seafloor, these ancient weapons of war were finally retrieved from wrecks off the coast of Sicily, where the battle took place.

The retrieval effort was conducted by the U.S. RPM Nautical Foundation and Sicily’s Marine Archaeology Unit, and the find has shed new light on the wars of antiquity.

Historical accounts indicate Ancient Rome sank up to 50 Carthaginian ships with these rams, which held three enormous blades that ripped into the wooden hulls of enemy ships.

The three blades on each side were used to tear through enemy hulls.

That feat of engineering was one of the main reasons for Rome’s emerging victorious from the war.

The newly-retrieved Roman rams all bore inscriptions from judges that affirmed these weapons were made in accordance with the high Roman engineering standards.

Carthaginian battering rams, meanwhile, commonly held inscriptions dedicated to Baal, a deity worshipped for its control of the weather, suggesting they put their faith in gods instead of builders. Valeria Livigni of the Marine Archaeology Unit confirmed that the Carthaginian rams were “less well made than the Roman rams.”

That wasn’t the only revelation, however. Now, previous beliefs about Rome’s naval strategies have been challenged. While accounts have long indicated that both parties had about 200 ships, with Rome sinking 50 enemy vessels and capturing 70 while losing only 30 ships, their attacks are now being reassessed.

“We believed that ships tried to ram each other broadside,” said David Ruff of the RPM. “But many of the rams we have discovered are damaged, suggesting they went head to head. Either way, these were very violent collisions.”

The site of the Battle of Aegates was only identified in 2010.

Historians believe that Romans would toss both their masts and anchors overboard during an approach and row their now lighter vessels into a Carthaginian ship. Their enemies, meanwhile, commanded far heavier ships with payloads meant to be offloaded at the Mediterranean ports of Drepena and Lilybaeum.

The site of the Battle of Aegates was only identified in 2010 when a fisherman spotted a battering ram below his boat and notified Italian archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa. Earlier this summer, divers discovered three merchant vessels that held more than 200 ceramic jars, with some still containing traces of wine.

The Battle of the Aegates was first recorded by Greek historians Polybius and Diodorus. It began as a fight over the control of Sicily. With Rome encroaching on the town of Drepana, Carthage took to the seas to defend itself under the command of Hannibal’s son Hanno against Roman forces led by Praetor Quintus Valerius Falto.

The battering rams weigh 450 pounds each and the blades are two feet long.

While Rome lost a few dozen ships and saw 50 more damaged, their maneuverability allowed for more complex approaches than their enemy.

Colliding into Carthaginian ships with lighter vessels and greater speeds saw Hanno’s weighty fleet suffer immense losses before it could pick up reinforcements from shore.

The Roman warships easily encircled their slower enemies before ramming right into their hulls, casting the Carthaginian sailors into the seas and watching their vessels sink.

The sheer slaughter saw any remaining Carthaginian ships flee home. Hanno was crucified for his disastrous loss in battle.

Carthage sued for peace and signed the Treaty of Lutatius, which forced them to give up Sicily and pay enormous reparations. And although the First Punic War was over, there were still two more to come, and the battle for the dominance of the Mediterranean wouldn’t end for almost another 100 years.

Remarkably, it was only a few months ago that divers uncovered an Ancient Greek military vessel nearby. While this latest diving team uncovered Ancient Roman warships, it seems the Mediterranean has a lot left to offer historians — and is sure to broaden our understanding of ancient naval warfare for years to come.

A tall story! Famous artist Michelangelo was surprisingly SHORT, measuring just 5ft 3in

A tall story! Famous artist Michelangelo was surprisingly SHORT, measuring just 5ft 3in

As an artist, the legendary Michelangelo Buonarroti left behind some big shoes to fill. But in real life, the great painter’s shoes weren’t big at all — and neither was Michelangelo

Italian researchers recently examined three shoes that were found in Michelangelo’s home after his death and are thought to have belonged to the Renaissance artist: a pair of leather shoes and a single leather slipper (the companion was stolen in 1873), in the collection of the Casa Buonarroti Museum in Florence, Italy.

The researchers’ analysis is the first to estimate the physical characteristics of the artist based on measurements of personal objects such as footwear, and they found that Michelangelo, while still an artistic giant, stood no more than 5 feet 2 inches (1.6 meters) tall.

While this is relatively short for a European adult man by today’s standards, at the time Michelangelo was alive (1475 to 1564) that height would not have been unusual, said scientists with the Forensic Anthropology, Paleopathology and Bioarchaeology Research Center (FAPAB) in Avola, Italy.

FAPAB researchers Francesco Galassi, a paleopathologist, and Elena Varotto, a forensic anthropologist, measured the shoes and then calculated the wearer’s foot dimensions and height, and their results aligned with a description of Michelangelo by the 16th-century artist and writer Giorgio Vasari.

Vasari wrote that Michelangelo was “broad in the shoulders” but the rest of his body was “somewhat slender in proportion” and his stature was average, according to the study.

The shoes were all similar in size, suggesting that both pairs (when the slipper pair was complete) were worn by the same person.

However, even though the shoes have long been attributed to Michelangelo, it’s also possible that they belonged to another man in the artist’s household, such as a family member or one of Michelangelo’s descendants, the scientists wrote. 

Michelangelo may have been in poor health toward the end of his life, and likely had gout and lead poisoning as well as severe arthritis in his hands, according to clues found in Michelangelo’s own writings and in painted portraits of the artist, Live Science previously reported.

A circa 1540 portrait of Michelangelo by Italian painter Jacopino del Conte (1513–1598). Not surprisingly, the portrait doesn’t focus on Michelangelo’s height but on his face and hand instead.

As Michelangelo’s remains have never been exhumed and analyzed, it’s difficult for scientists to be certain about the artist’s condition when he died at the age of 88.

However, studies such as this can help to fill in some of the physical details about Michelangelo toward the end of his lifetime, the authors reported.

The findings were published in the September 2021 issue of the journal Anthropologie.

Tourists dive into an underwater archaeological Roman party town

Tourists dive into underwater archaeological Roman party town

Fish dart across mosaic floors and into the ruined villas, where holidaying Romans once drank, plotted and flirted in the party town of Baiae, now an underwater archaeological park near Naples.

Statues which once decorated luxury abodes in this beachside resort are now playgrounds for crabs off the coast of Italy, where divers can explore ruins of palaces and domed bathhouses built for emperors.

Rome’s nobility were first attracted in the 2nd century BC to the hot springs at Baiae, which sits on the coast within the Campi Flegrei — a supervolcano known in English as the Phlegraean Fields.

Seven emperors, including Augustus and Nero, had villas here, as did Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. The poet Sextus Propertius described the town as a place of vice, which was a “foe to virtuous creatures”.

It was where “old men behave like young boys, and lots of young boys act like young girls,” according to the Roman scholar Varro.

But by the 4th century, the porticos, marble columns, shrines and ornamental fish ponds had begun to sink due to bradyseism, the gradual rise and fall of land due to hydrothermal and seismic activity.

The whole area, including the neighbouring commercial capital of Pozzuoli and military seat at Miseno, were submerged. Their ruins now lie between four and six metres (15 to 20 feet) underwater.

‘Something unique’

“It’s difficult, especially for those coming for the first time, to imagine that you can find things you would never be able to see anywhere else in the world in just a few metres of water,” said Marcello Bertolaso, head of the Campi Flegrei diving centre, which takes tourists around the site.

In this photograph taken on August 18, 2021 a dive guide shows tourists a copy of the original statue preserved at the Museum of Baiae, representing Dionysus with ivy crown in the Nymphaeum of punta Epitaffio, the submerged ancient Roman city of Baiae at the Baiae Underwater Park.

“Divers love to see very special things, but what you can see in the park of Baiae is something unique.”

The 177-hectare (437-acre) underwater site has been a protected marine area since 2002, following decades in which antiques were found in fishermen’s nets and looters had free rein.

Divers must be accompanied by a registered guide.

A careful sweep of sand near a low wall uncovers a stunning mosaic floor from a villa which belonged to Gaius Calpurnius Pisoni, known to have spent his days here conspiring against Emperor Nero.

Explorers follow the ancient stones of the coastal road past ruins of spas and shops, the sunlight on a clear day piercing the waves to light up statues. These are replicas; the originals are now in a museum.

“When we research new areas, we gently remove the sand where we know there could be a floor, we document it, and then we re-cover it,” archaeologist Enrico Gallocchio told AFPTV.

“If we don’t, the marine fauna or flora will attack the ruins. The sand protects them,” said Gallocchio, who is in charge of the Baiae park.

“The big ruins were easily discovered by moving a bit of sand, but there are areas where the banks of sand could be metres deep. There are undoubtedly still ancient relics to be found,” he said.