The study of Insula 5 in Regio V aims to clarify the historical, architectural and urban development of an area of the city that has not been examined in detail. It is situated in the north-eastern quadrant of Pompeii a few tens of metres from the line of the fortifications and facing directly onto the Via di Nola.
As part of the project an analysis was made of the vertical stratigraphy and the decorative schemes were recorded, most of which undocumented to date and now in a bad state of preservation. The research also undertook a digital survey of the parts of the Insula that were excavated. All the information is contained in a database which will contain all the data from the excavation and study of the finds.
In 2004 and 2005 trial trenches were dug with the aim of defining the construction phases of the entire block. Past excavations in bordering areas showed that the whole area, occupied from the Bronze Age, had been enclosed in the archaic period by a primitive wall of pappamonte stone.
The trenches dug in the peristyle revealed the presence of an imposing structure in pappamonte blocks, already known from an unpublished excavation by Maiuri, which the numerous fragments of pottery associated with it date to the beginning of the 6th century B.C. This structure was in use until the end of the 5th century B.C. and was partly demolished during the successive architectural alterations undergone by the Insula. (Domenico Esposito)