Greece & Rome · 1st century BC · Baiae (Bacoli), Campania, Italy
Roman maritime villa found on land seized from the Camorra near Naples
The terraced villa at Baiae, partly swallowed by the sea, may have belonged to Publius Cornelius Dolabella, Cicero's son-in-law, though the attribution is still unconfirmed.
Official announcement
Baiae (Bacoli), Italy A monumental Roman villa more than 2,000 years old has been cleared and partly restored at Baiae, on the Bay of Naples. It stands on a property confiscated from the Camorra, the organised crime group. The municipality of Bacoli says it is the first Roman maritime villa found on land seized from the Camorra.
The complex has been provisionally attributed to Publius Cornelius Dolabella. He was a late Republican politician and the son-in-law of Marcus Tullius Cicero.
The villa lies within the grounds of Villa Ferretti. This was once the heart of ancient Baiae, about 20 kilometres from the centre of Naples. Bacoli's mayor, Josi Gerardo Della Ragione, announced the result after the first phase of work was completed and the scaffolding taken down.
Now it is visible to everyone. It is a monumental villa from the Roman period. It has more than 2000 years of history. This is the first Roman maritime villa discovered on property confiscated from the Camorra. We have just finished the first phase of work and removed the scaffolding. A new archaeological site.
Josi Gerardo Della Ragione, mayor of Bacoli
Rooms on the slope, some now under the sea
The structure sits on a slope running down to the sea. It is built on natural volcanic terraces facing the Gulf of Baia. So far the work has cleared the structures and consolidated and restored several rooms.
The team has also identified underground spaces and further levels that are partly under water. Underwater investigations confirmed that parts of the complex have been lost to the sea.
The cause is bradyseism: the slow rise and fall of the ground produced by volcanic activity. Here that activity lies beneath the Phlegraean Fields, the volcanic area west of Naples. For this reason, much of ancient Baiae now lies below sea level.
The property takes its modern name from the family that owned it in the 20th century. At that time it was a house with gardens and farm buildings. These were built over ancient levels that had never been systematically investigated.
From the second half of that century, and especially around the turn of the 21st, the property passed through other hands. La Brújula Verde describes them as opaque hands. Judicial investigations eventually traced it to individuals linked to the Camorra.
During that period the site was closed off. Building work covered or absorbed older structures with no archaeological oversight. This made the site's history harder to read.
Baiae was one of the main resorts of the Roman elite between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. Its thermal springs, already used in the Greek period, attracted villas and bathing establishments. Seneca and Horace wrote of it as a place of pleasure and excess. Julius Caesar, Nero and Hadrian all stayed there.
Baiae was a string of residences along the coast and the hills behind it, rather than a compact town. Many of them were built on terraces. They had private harbours, nymphaea, gardens and rooms decorated with marble and mosaics.
Why Dolabella is a plausible owner
Dolabella was born around 85 BC into the gens Cornelia, one of Rome's oldest patrician families. Ancient writers portray him as reckless, given to excess and heavily in debt.
He wanted to escape his creditors and reach the tribunate of the plebs, an office closed to patricians. To do so, he had himself adopted into a plebeian family. In 50 BC he married Cicero's daughter Tullia.
No inscription naming Dolabella has been found. The attribution rests on several strands of evidence taken together.
The villa stands in a part of Baiae densely occupied by senatorial families between the late Republic and the imperial period. Ancient sources place Dolabella in the Phlegraean Fields. His rank fits a residence of this size and quality.
Other terraced villas in the area are attributed to high-ranking owners. Comparison with them points to a political figure of the first rank.
La Brújula Verde calls the attribution a plausible but not definitive hypothesis. It remains so pending epigraphic or material evidence that could confirm the owner's name.
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