Itinerary:
1. Flavio Amphitheatre
2. Macellum also called Temple of Serapis
9.30 a.m. Departure from the Flavian Amphitheatre entrance
The Flavio Amphitheatre, also called Maggiore, is the third largest after the one in Rome and in Capua. It is divided into three rings closed at the top by an attic and at the bottom by an external arcade with an elliptical plan built on travertine slabs. The piperno pillars were consolidated later in brick. From the arcade 4 main and 12 secondary entrances, from the corridor 20 flights of stairs, allowed influx of about 40.000 spectators.
Begun under Nero and completed by Vespasiano (69-96 A.C.), it measures m. 149 x 116 (arenas m.75 x 42). Under the podium of the arena there are the underground corridors with the space to the service of the shows. The undergrounds are well preserved so it was possible to study the complex system of lifting cages with beasts.
In 305, under the persecution of Diocletian, seven Christian martyrs were exposed into the arena: Gennaro, Festo and Desiderio from Benevento, Sossio from Miseno and Procolo, Eutiche and Acuzie from Pozzuoli, they were beheaded near to the Solfatara.
In the Middle Ages it was stripped of the construction materials and many statues that shattered produced lime.
After that, we proceed with the visit to the “Macellum” – Commonly known with the name of “Temple of Serapis”, owing to the discovery of the statue of “Jupiter Serapis” an Egyptian deity, it represents the most significant monument of the urban coastal area. The large quadrangular room with the porticoed courtyard in the centre, granite columns and four cipollino columns, is actually the most food market of antiquity. Races, goods, cults, rituals from anywhere were crossed here confirming the extraordinary role that Puteoli had in ancient time.
But the Serapeum owes its fame also to the phenomenon of Phlegrean bradyseism: the three Corinthian pillars of cipollino, perforated by the lithodomas (mollusks perforating the stone), give us the right measure of the submersion of the building in the sea.
02:30 p.m. End of our services – free time to go for a walk around Pozzuoli
âš - To optimize the organization, we reserve the right to manage the sequence of visits at our discretion.
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PRICE € 5,00 (1 teacher free every 10 students) - adult € 10
Reservation required baiasommersa@yahoo.it or phone +39.349.497.4183
Itinerary:
1. Cave of the Dragonara - 2. Church of Saint Sossio – 3. Theatre Misenum - 4. Sacello degli Augustali
9.30 a.m. Departure from Miseno
Visit to the Cave of Dragonara
The itinerary starts from the beach of Miseno, where you can enter armed with torches in a majestic cistern (50x59 mt) dug entirely into the tufa with barrel vaulted roof, divided in five naves and four rows of somewhat irregular pillars. Unlike Mirabilis Pool, it is common thought that this tank was created for private use since the time of Saracens, also for the discovery of nymphaeums and fish ponds currently submerged between the beach and ridge. In the past it was known as Traconaria cave from “tracori” which in Greek indicates tortuos paths dug in the depth of the rock.
Visit to the church of Saint Sossio (external)
The tour continues with the little church dedicated to Saint Sossio, it had a very ancient origin but subject to continuous transformations beginning with the reconstruction carried out after the plundering of Saracens in the 9th century b.C. In 905 the remains of the Saint were moved to Naples at the church of San Severino and in 1807 to Frattamaggiore. It is a small open-air museum: pieces of marble, majestic capitals, stretch of columns and a polycromy of marble pierced by lithodomes that mark the results of the sea due to bradyseism, but the most beautiful relic is the headstone placed in 1905 by the people of Frattamaggiore for his 1600 years anniversary of his martydom.
Visit to the Misenum Theatre
We proceed with the visit to the Theatre that was built using the slope of the hill; part of the scene and the cavea are still preserved, with the stairs between wedges and the vomitoria. Three rooms are still visible, more than 6 metres high, carved directly into the tufa and covered in vittata and cocciopesto work and a long annular corridor from which it is possible to perceive the insertion of radial tunnels. Characteristic of the theatre was the presence of a tunnel that, from the thirteenth arch of this corridor, reached, crossing the hill, the ancient Herculea Street so that the port.
Visit to the Sacello degli Augustali (external)
At the end of our visit we proceed towards a building destined for the imperial cult, composed by three sites (worship’s room and two service rooms) where the marble statues of Titus and Vespasian were found, the equestrian statue of Domiziano-Nerva and a collection of sculptures and fragments, today preserved into the Archeological Museum of the Castle of Baia. The monument dated back to the Augustan period with restoration and reconstruction, the most important at the time of Marcus Aurelio (161 d.C.). The courtyard, because of subsidence phenomena, results submerged by the water coming from an underlying groundwater. The building has been occupied for some time by a nice colony of squawking geese, the only templars to guard the temple.
01:00 p.m. End of our services
âš - To optimize the organization, we reserve the right to manage the sequence of visits at our discretion.
DOWNLOAD BROCHURE
PRICE € 5,00 per student, € 5,00 per adult (1 teacher free every 10 students)
Reservation required baiasommersa@yahoo.it or phone +39.349.497.4183
Itinerary:
1. Monte Nuovo
2. Averno Lake
3. Mirabilis Pool
4. Fusaro Lake and Casina Vanvitelliana
9.30 a.m. Departure from the Oasis of Monte Nuovo
The eruption of Monte Nuovo was an exceptional and unique event that hit the Campi Flegrei in historical era. The Lucrino Lake was modified, in fact at first it was connected to the Averno Lake by an artificial canal. Because of bradyseism, the lake was submerged by the sea in the 10th - 11th century with the consequent retreat of the coastline. In the following centuries, the soil began to rise under the pressure of endogenous energy and re-emerged a long stretch of coast, where tectonic phenomena gradually manifested, culminating with the eruption of the volcano. Subsequently, the bulge crumbled and an explosive hole opened, from which the erupted materials (stones, lapilli and ashes) formed just over three days the crater hill, that was called Monte Nuovo by contemporaries.
Averno Lake is located in the middle of an ancient volcanic crater and has a perimeter of 2,86 Km. In the center it is about 34 metres deep. The Averno (from Greek “aornos” = without birds, because they died flying over there due to the mephitic exhalations of many fumaroles) was considered the entrance of Hades and a consecrated place to infernal divinity. So, the religion of the oracle started and spread and from here Ulysses went to look for Teresia. Here Enea came to look for the Sybil. No lake like the Averno has been celebrated and consecrated in the human history.
During the fight between Octavian and Pompey, Agrippa – brilliant strategist of Octavian – transformed the lake into a safe harbour, connecting it to the sea by a canal; a shipyard to repair ships of the powerful Roman fleet, creating a port (portus Julius) with grain storage and maritime works, so in that way he also realized an underground tunnel to connect Averno and Cuma. It will be possible to enjoy a pleasant walk along the banks of the lake and reach the foot of the Apollo’s Temple.
Lunch break
We continue towards Miseno until we reach the Mirabilis Pool: a great tank built during the Augustan period to supply the fleet of Miseno, Classis Praetoria Misenensis. Excavated entirely in the tufa, it is characterized by a unique majestic and suggestive location, such as to resemble an underground cathedral. 70x25,5 meters for a height of 15 meters, it has five naves with a barrel vault and four rows of twelve pillars with a cruciform plan, in the middle a settling tank and it was the final point of the Serino aqueduct.
Visit to Fusaro Lake and the Casina Vanvitelliana (from outside)
Located in the North of Naples, in the territory of the municipality of Bacoli, Fusaro Lake was most often classified as a lake of sea bar by geographers. The ancients called it “swamp Acherusia”, also deified and house of the Underworld. In 1752 king Charles of Bourbon bought and included it among the royal properties. King Charles and his son Ferdinand, hunting enthusiasts, built beautiful residences in wooded areas and suitable for the purpose as the Astroni, Fusaro and others.
But Charles III improved the Fusaro Lake with its banks, creating in the middle an “octagonal house” on a natural granite level: the Casina Vanvitelliana.
The son Ferdinand IV in 1782 assigned the architect Carlo Vanvitelli, son of the most famous Luigi (author of the Royal Palace of Caserta), to project and realize the hunting residence, the royal casina of Fusaro. Six small houses were built on the ground floor for the royal stable, a “tavern for guests who went for leisure”, the ancient mouth of Torre Gaveta was restored, and the cultivation of oysters increased “making the king go crazy” so that himself participated in the sale of Fusaro’s fish and oysters.
Towards the bank of the lake “were built several buildings, one called Baraccone, which included a large canopy supported by aches and pillars to shelter boats and fishing gear to one of the royal family”; and another one named Cassone to keep fish alive for sale. Thanks to the genius of Vanvitelli, the old guardian’s accommodation became the “real casino” in the middle of Fusaro. Two floors and at first the transhipment was possible by boats, before a wooden pier was built.
02:30 p.m. End of our services
âš - To optimize the organization, we reserve the right to manage the sequence of visits at our discretion.
DOWNLOAD BROCHURE
PRICE € 12,00 per student (1 teacher free every 10 students) - adult € 15,00