APP’s Excavations and Research, Pompeii’s Fortifications Marco Fabbri (University of Rome Tor Vergata) APP Contact Person Marialaura Iadanza In summer 2017 a new excavation site was set up to analyse the walls of the city near Tower XI (also known as the Mercury Tower). Recent surveys have revealed new information about the construction processes and building phases of the extraordinary defensive structures of Pompeii. The results obtained during this first excavation can be summarised as follows: During the excavation just west of the Mercury Tower, the two walls in opus quadratum and the path in between them were found to date back to the same phase from the first half of the 4 th century B.C.. Moreover, at least four different road surfaces were uncovered. A particularly important one among these is a road surface bearing the traces of tracks left by the carts transporting war machinery. This surface, dating back to the early 1 st century B.C., is related to the substantial remodelling of the fortification system done just before the siege of Pompeii in 89 B.C., which is also confirmed by the construction of 12 opus incertum towers. The excavation in front of Tower XI (oriented towards the external side of the city) confirmed the presence of city walls in pappamonte blocks dating back to the first quarter of the 6 th century B.C.. …Read more

Antonella Coralini (University of Bologna) APP Contact People Giuseppe Scarpati The ‘Vesuviana’ programme, in cooperation with the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, focused not only on the Pompeii site, but also on the archaeological area of Villa Sora, in Torre del Greco. Working on the case study Insulae IX 8-House of the Centenary, an interdisciplinary team developed a GIS platform capable of processing all the data of a pluri-stratified site like Pompeii, including old and new excavations, from ancient material evidence to the most recent activities. …Read more

Laetitia Cavassa (Aix Marseille University) APP Contact Person Luana Toniolo The second pottery workshop in Pompeii functioning in 79 AD is inside the city, near Porta Nocera, and hosts two kilns and a settling tank. Oil lamps, oil lamp moulds, and over a hundred vases and pots (frittili) shaped on the wheel have been found. The workshop consists of four rooms and covers an area of about 100 squar …Read more

Gymnasium of the IuvenesThe entrance of the Gymnasium is located in Vicolo della Regina, in an area that had been long closed to the public before being reopened in 2016, following the completion of major safety works. From the outside of the building, you can see a marvellous floor mosaic in the entrance hallway, which depicts a fighting scene with two bare-handed athletes facing each other. On t …Read more

Villa San Marco derives its name from an ancient chapel dedicated to St. Mark built on the site during the second half of the 18th century. It was a Roman residential villa on the edge of the hill, offering a wonderful panoramic view. The villa, first excavated during the Bourbon period between 1749 and 1754, was systematically re-excavated between 1950 and 1962. …Read more

The villa was named after a large mythological fresco on the far wall of the triclinium, and the excavations conducted by the Swiss engineer Karl Weber between 1757 and 1762 almost completely unearthed it. At the time, the excavation method consisted in a series of underground explorations aimed at recovering objects deemed worthy, as opposed to a survey of the whole architectural context. Hence, the better preserved furnishings and frescoes were detached and brought to the Bourbon Museum at the Royal Palace of Portici. …Read more

The only monument of the ancient Oplontis currently open to visitors is a large residential villa, yet to be completely unearthed. It dates back to the mid-1st century B.C. and was enlarged during the early Imperial Age. In the past, the villa overlooked the sea offering a panoramic view, and boasted magnificent décor, some exceptional traces of which are still preserved today. According to an inscription painted on an amphora, the villa could have belonged to Poppaea Sabina, Emperor Nero’s second wife, or to her family. The inscription mentioned Sucundus, one of Poppaea’s slaves or freedmen. When the volcano erupted, the villa had probably been mostly empty owing to the work in progress required following damage caused from seismic activity, and resulting in the removal of many architectural and decorative elements. …Read more

Villa B or of Lucius Cassius Tertius, not far from the luxurious villa ‘Poppaea’, is the other main complex of Oplontis. Lucius Cassius Tertius was probably the last owner with his name on a bronze seal found during the excavations. Currently, the building cannot be visited. It was constructed towards the end of 2nd century B.C. and expanded at a later time. It develops around a central space, surrounded by a grey tuff double-order colonnade completely rebuilt with the original column drums and related capitals repositioned back into place. …Read more

The rural villa in the area of Villa Regina comprising various rooms arranged on the three sides of an open courtyard, where there is the wine cellar with 18 dolia. Among the various areas in the villa of which casts of the wooden fixtures from the doors and windows have been preserved, the following areas and items are of particular interest: a wide arcade surrounding the uncovered courtyard, a s …Read more

The Antiquarium, set up in 1991 and located in a building close to the archaeological site of Villa Regina, illustrates, with the help of educational tools, the particularly favourable life and environment, during the Roman epoch, for human settlement in and use of the Vesuvian countryside. The exhibition showcases the numerous finds of every kind found during the excavations carried out between the late-19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. These finds were often discovered in an exceptional state of preservation under the blanket of ash and Vesuvius lava in some houses located in Pompeii and in the farmhouses and elegant villas that existed in this area allowing us to obtain highly precise data on the living standards, economic conditions, and the customs and traditions of the inhabitants of this territory during the Roman era.   The finds in the first exhibition room, which are appropriately contextualised in the natural environment of their places of origin, provide evidence of the use of the sea and coastal hinterland, the cultivation of the hilly region, and the economic activities related to agriculture and livestock, crafts (especially textile production), as well as some practices related to religion and everyday life, such as the well-documented medicine and cosmetics from the Roman era.   Some finds displayed in the second exhibition room testify to human activity in the area during the prehistoric and protohistoric periods, but, above all, they provide evidence of manufacturing settlements from the Roman era. The villas owned by the D’Acunzo and Risi Di Prisco families, other villas on land owned by Antonio Prisco, as well as Villa Regina, Villa della Pisanella, Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus, Villa of Marcus Livius Marcellus, and Villa of Asellius in via Casone Grotta were excavated in the Municipality of Boscoreale between the late-19th century and last century. …Read more