MUNICIPALITY: Positano
NAME: Villa Marittima (Roman era)
LOCATION: P.zza Flavio Gioia
DESCRIPTION: This villa was used for the vacation of wealthy Romans, like the others along the Coast. There is evidence of it from 1758, when at a depth of 6.50 meters, were fortuitously discovered rooms not far from the Collegiate Church. Inspection of these rooms, also conducted later in 1931, led to the discovery of a peristyle (32.00 meters long), of which three sides were investigated. Brick columns, covered with stucco, adorned this structure to the north. A large garden was also identified by archaeologists.
Recent works involving the crypt of the nearby Collegiate Church have made it possible to acquire new archaeological data, since sections of walls pertaining to the same structure were found. These walls are covered with an opus reticulatum facing (paramento in opera reticolata*) and a fresco reproducing a “hippocampus.”
Local historiography records that the marble floor covering of the presbytery of the Collegiate Church, and some columns sold to the Church of St. Theresa in Naples, came from this buried structure.
SEE, VISIT, FIND: Archaeological excavation is ongoing.
OPPORTUNITIES: While waiting for the possibility of full fruition of the site, it is necessary to highlight the importance of the structures at least with traditional information media, hoping that the agencies responsible for research and protection of the site will publish the archaeological data in an acceptable timeframe.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: www.comune.positano.sa.it
RUGGIERO R., Degli scavi di antichità nelle province di Terraferma dell’antico Regno di Napoli dal 1743 al 1876, Napoli 1888.
TALAMO E., Città di Positano, Napoli 1890.
Ecostiera, aprile-giugno 2004, pagg.44-46.
