Where Would Vampires Hide Out in Italy?

 

Thursday, August 12, 2010

 

 Today we went to Baia and to two villas in Stabia: San Marco and Ariana (Ariadne). My favorite part of the day, however, was a stop at Misenum at the “Piscina Mirabile.” 

The "Piscina Mirabile" in Italian; "Piscina Mirabilis" in Latin

This is the remains of a huge cistern that was at the end of the Aqua Augusta, an aqueduct used to supply water to the Roman fleet at Misenum. Branches of it also supplied water to Pompeii and Herculaneum, but its original purpose was a military one. This isn't surprising, considering that Roman roads were originally built for military purposes, too. 

The “Piscina Mirabilis” is hauntingly beautiful. I can't explain why. Hopefully my pictures will do it some justice. Our guide said it could hold over twelve million liters of water. That's a little more than three million gallons.

Wow! 

Piscina Mirabilis: pretty? creepy? pretty creepy? YOU decide!

Even the algae and vines growing in it were beautiful in a creepy, Ann Rice kind of way. There was something about the whole place that fired the imagination. For more pictures of this and our previous day, visit this set on Flickr.

 Our group is starting to wind up its stay. One more night here after tonight, and then we will be heading back to Rome. I am hoping I will find time to get to the Pantheon so Matthew can see it before we depart for the U.S.

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Baiae or Baia on the Bay of Naples

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 

View of the Bay from the Baia Museum

 

Our group visited the ancient luxury resort of Baia on the Bay of Naples today. In its day it was a resort for the exceedingly well connected and wealthy Roman elite. Its reputation was a little shady at times, but the Romans seemed to have loved its pleasures. They practically made the bay a lake both for purposes of making the bay sheltered and secured and to extend the land on which to build their luxury homes. The whole area is extremely volcanic and dotted with natural caves as well as the aqueducts and tunnels that the Romans built. Some of the latter were used by German troops during World War II. Nature's process of slow earthquakes or “bradyseism” causes the floor of the bay to rise and lower, so over time ancient cities have lowered beneath the sea or places under the sea have come up. More information is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradyseism and other sites. 

 

Tom Hayes told us that one can rent a glass-bottomed boat, and the water is so clear that you can see remains of the ancient city of Puteoli, near modern Pozzuoli, on the floor of the harbor below. Besides the lovely, well preserved statues and inscriptions at the museum, we saw many other sights today: The Acropolis of Cumae and the Cave of the Sibyl with a presentation by participant Anne Glenn, which was excellent. On the way we also saw the Villa of Vedius Pollio, a friend of Rome's first emperor, Augustus. This site has been open to the public for less than two years, so the guides were very eager to show us around. The views and the theaters were spectacular. The guides spoke Italian and no English, but Tom translated for us beautifully. These guides showed us evidence of the German soldiers.

Private Bay for the Homes of the Roman Elite

  

Vedius is famous for his cruelty. A slave once dropped an expensive goblet while Augustus was visiting for dinner. Vedius ordered him thrown to his pet lampreys (like eels). Augustus stopped him by asking to see the rest of the set of goblets, and then deliberately breaking them all himself. It's a good story. 

We stopped at the Tomb of Vergil or Virgil, a Roman poet who wrote in Latin in the first century B.C. There were Latin inscriptions all over. We had a chance to pay our tributes to the bard.

Another View of the Private Bay

The guides also pointed out an allegedly haunted house, not Roman but fascinating all the same. We had another discussion and translation session focused on Roman houses. Tomorrow we will visit the National Archeological Museum at Naples. There will be a discussion session at 6:30 but very little else planned for the day. I am glad we have been promised a slightly slower pace.

More pictures from this day of our trip are posted on Flickr.

Vedius Pollio's Theater and Odeon

Haunted House on its Own Island

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for making this portion of my trip possible.