The Beginning of the End of 6 Weeks in Italy

Friday, August 13, 2010

 

 Our last full day touring Southern Italy! I will miss the Villa Vergiliana and the food, sights, and friends here, but I am looking forward to hot showers with water pressure. 

The Villa Vergiliana has been undergoing upgrades since 2010. It was beautiful but sorely in need of attention

There's no place like home!

 Today we went to Saepinum and Beneventum. Saepinum was pretty and had the remains of a nice theater. Medieval buildings were built on Roman foundations in places. Our guides used Saepinum as a form of “final exam” for the students. We mostly explored on our own and came up with our own comments. It was a small town but had all the items you would expect to see in a Roman city: a forum, a Macellum, bath complexes, fountains, an orderly layout of streets with a cardo and decumanus maximus, etc.

Interested in touring Italy in July of 2018? Click here for details.

A reproduction of a water wheel at Saepinum

Water wheel at Saepinum: another view

Remains of a theater at Saepinum

The Arch of Trajan and a related museum were in Beneventum, modern Benevento. I had been to neither site before so I took a lot of pictures. To view more of them, visit this set on Flickr.

In front of the Arch of Trajan in Benevento

Pleasure Palace of the Bourbon Kings in Italy

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

 We returned to Capua today for the amphitheater and the Mithraeum. This time my knee was well enough that I could spend some time and take some pictures in the substructure of the amphitheater, which was interesting and strangely beautiful. 

The substructure of the amphitheater with a drain running down the center

The current amphitheater was built around the time of Hadrian and Trajan. I liked being able to see the drains under the structure, probably for washing away animal manure, etc. I saw some frescoes at the Mithraeum I hadn't noticed before. 

We spent the afternoon at the Reggia di Caserta, a palace built by the Bourbon kings (of Spain, who ruled Naples) to rival the palace of Versailles in France. But it cost a lot, took a long time to complete, and was eventually used as more of a weekend hunting lodge than a center of royal power. 

The horse and carriage behind the fountain gives an idea of the scale of the grounds at Reggia di Caserta

The palace was influenced by discoveries in Herculaneum funded by the Bourbon kings. The style is Baroque but with hints of NeoClassicism to come. I especially liked “Venus' Bathing Pool” in the English Garden. For more pictures, visit this set on Flickr. If you wish to tour Italy in the summer of 2018, click for details.

"Venus' Bath"

Volcanic Southern Italy and the Temples of the Gods

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

 

Here I am with my "Fund for Teachers" bag in front of the entrance to "Sibyl's Cave" in Cumae

  

Today the group spent time in Cumae (modern Cuma) itself. It was originally a Greek colony that was later taken over by the Romans as they expanded through Italy. We took a good look at the remains of two temples there, one allegedly built by the mythical character Daedalus, Icarus' father and the inventor of the Labyrinth on Crete and of human-powered flight. This was a temple to Apollo. We also visited Sibyl's Cave, the place of Apollo's Oracle at Cumae. We had a rare opportunity to visit its forum and spend some time in its bath complex. After lunch the group traveled to see the Macellum at Pozzuoli, modern-day Puteoli, and then went on to Solfatara. The day was great fun. 

Matthew in front of one of the volcanic vents at Solfatara

Tomorrow we will visit the Villa at Oplontis in the morning and then head to the island of Capri for two days. Capri is beautiful, and I've never spent the night there, so I am looking forward to the night in the hotel. 

The accommodations at the Villa Vergiliana are very basic. There is no air conditioning, although the evening breezes are pleasant, and the group of 30 must share showers. My room is the smallest I have had so far. I like my new roommate, though, and am quickly adjusting to the changes. At least there are some lines outside for the laundry I do in the sink in our small room, so I have a place for my things to dry.