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  • Piazza Vittorio Veneto; area del monastero di San Paolo
  • Sorrento
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    Credits

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    Monuments

    Periods

    • No period data has been added yet

    Chronology

    • 1 AD - 200 AD

    Season

      • An intervention was carried out to recover and valorise the sea-front _nymphaea_ belonging to the grandiose villa attributed to _Agrippa Posthumus_. The villa occupied the tufaceous terrace corresponding with the area of the present monastery of San Paolo and piazza Vittorio Veneto, developing on a series of ramps leading down to the sea. The apse in the back wall of the largest _nymphaeum_, which opened onto a rectangular hall (16.70 x 7.70 x 12 m), was excavated. The apse is still visible today to the rear of the beach where in ancient times the coastline ran. The apse was built in _opus latericium_ where reinforcement was needed, and faced with _opus reticulatum_. The cleaning operations revealed traces of a low semicircular wall which perhaps supported a fountain. The exedra opened at the end of a grotto. The vault preserved traces of crushed lava decoration, while the steps onto which the water fell were perhaps made of wood, judging by the descending cuts clearly visible in the walls. The jet of water came out of a hole at the top of the back wall linked, via a pipe, to the upper cistern. The smaller _nympaheum_, in _opus reticulatum_, was rectangular, with an apse in the back wall in which there was a rectangular niche. No trace survived of the mosaic decoration. However, a notable discovery was part of the painted plaster of the dado, constituted by azure squares bordered by two vertical red stripes with a yellow one between them. The repainting can probably be attributed to a second phase of the villa, dated by Mingazzini to the Hadrianic period, as is the _opus latericium_ and _reticulatum_ structure of the larger _nymphaeum_.

    Bibliography

      • S. De Caro 2002, L’attività della Soprintendenza archeologica di Napoli e Caserta nel 2001, in Atti del XLI Convegno di Studi sulla Magna Grecia (Taranto 2001), Taranto: 635-675.