Campania was one of the regions most appreciated by the Roman elite and it is also for this reason that today in this region it is possible to find a large number of villas, built for the richest and most important families of the city.
Centuries of Roman presence, however, were buried by subsequent civilizations, not to mention the eruptions of Vesuvius which often submerged – as in Pompeii – the old structures with several meters of pumice and ash.
It was one of the most important and appreciated Roman villas in the area in Roman times the personal villa of the first emperor of RomeAugustus, who chose to build a refuge for himself and his family in Nola, from the suffocating and crowded rooms of his house on the Palatine.
Until this moment, the specific location of this villa, in the countryside of Nolawas unknown, given that centuries of history and raiders have hidden its remains, but a team of archaeologists fromthe University of Tokyo has just declared that he has found the remains of a Roman house under the foundations of a more recent building, which however dates back to 2nd century AD
The excavation is located inside the Somma Vesuviana Valley and is a few kilometers from the place where it was traditionally thought there could be the remains of Augustus’ villa. However, the statues found among the sediments and the pillars of the building suggest that Japanese archaeologists – who excavate at this site for over 20 years – they managed to find something very important, definitively clarifying the exact position of the Augustan villa.
The first Roman discovery in the area occurred in 1929, when a farmer discovered by chance that he had the remains of a Roman domus. At the time the archaeologists began to dig, already thinking of discovering the villa so desired by the archaeologists, but the economic difficulties and the Second World War they suspended the excavation, which began again thanks to the first Japanese team only in 2002.
The list of artefacts found over this millennia is quite long: archaeologists have found beautiful marble statues, dseveral wall paintings, a large room full of stucco reliefs and mosaics, cutlery and various small objects of everyday use. However, only recently did the team begin to dig deeper, finding the building dating back to the 1st BC
“Using radiocarbon dating and with the help of local volcanologists, we determined that these newly discovered sections were buried by volcanic material from the 79 AD eruption” he has declared Kohei Sugiyamaan archaeologist at the Institute for Advanced Global Studies who is one of the main authors of this discovery.
Thanks to this discovery today we know that the eruption that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum also buried other very important structures in the area, including Augustus’ villa. It also clarifies that following the eruption, the population immediately began to rebuildcreating the structures of the second century which are more superficial.
The villa of Augustus and probably several other buildings were destroyed pyroclastic flows coming from the volcano, which, descending at great speeds, buried everything, enveloping the landscape with a thick cloud of incandescent material. An event that can also be observed in several other more recent eruptions, the video of which is available online.
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