Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:38 Pagina 2

Stabiae MasterPlanCOPERTINAING28-06-20069:49Pagina3

The Committee of StabiaeReborn School ofArchitecture ofthe University ofMaryland The Archaeological Superintendancy ofPompeii with internationalboard representation from: is anItaliannon-profit cultural foundation, The RestoringAncientStabiaeFoundation Master Plan 2006 Summary Roman VillasofStabiae on thesiteofancient parks inmodernEurope one ofthelargestarchaeological Stabiae Foundation,tocreate coordinated bytheRestoringAncient of ArchaeologyPompei, A ProjectoftheSuperintendancy in SouthernItaly and economicrevival and aproject keytocultural of Italiancultural heritage, international management in thecollaborative as aninnovativepilotproject by ItalianandU.S.governments Supported andmonitored Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:38 Pagina 2

Pompeii, Herculaneum, Boscoreale, and the new Archaeological Park of Stabiae

ISCHIA MISENUM BAIAE NAPLES HERCULANEUM

< TO SORRENTO MODERN CASTELLAMMARE

Recovering the Total Villa Environment of the Roman Elite

The site of ancient Stabiae is the largest con- came first to the Bay of Naples, not Rome, to centration of excellently preserved, enor- solidify his support. mous, elite seaside villas in the entire Roman These great seaside display villas were new world. phenomena in world architecture in the first Ancient Roman Stabiae (modern Castellam- century B.C. They featured numerous dining mare di Stabia) is very different from nearby rooms with calculated panoramic views of Pompeii or Herculaneum. It was buried in the sea and mountains, private heated baths, same cataclysmic eruption of A.D. 79 and like art collections and libraries, cooling those sites, is also gorgeously preserved by fountains and gardens, huge co- the ash and cinder. But those sites were small lonnaded courtyards as large bustling provincial port towns. as football fields built for Stabiae on the other hand was not a town at no other purpose other all (with the exception of a village at one end) than to have a place to but rather a series of enormous, elite sea- stroll in after dinner… view villas built directly next to one another and hundreds of me- along the edge of a sea-cliff for at least 1.8 ters of brilliant fre- km. Some were up to 12,000-14,000 sq. m. (c. scos, often imitating 140,000 sq. ft.). In the summer months of the famous works of Gre- first centuries B.C. and A.D. the Roman capi- ek art. These “super tal virtually moved to the great villas of the ”villas were stage sets Bay of Naples. Sulla, Hortensius, Lucullus, for their elite owners, Caesar. Caesar’s father-in-law Calpurnius, all environments where had villas in the Bay of Naples area. Cicero, they could entertain far from the richest of senators, had three. A guests while surrounded friend of Cicero, Marcus Marius, owned one with the aura of a living in of the villas of Stabiae (as yet unidentified). a “Golden Age.” Augustus may have built twelve on Capri and Not only did many of the most another at Sorrento. The reclusive Tiberius important events leading to the literally moved the seat of government to his creation of the Roman Empire occur in villa on Capri. The great villas of the Bay of these villas, but also some of the most impor- Naples were not tant features of Imperial art and architecture just places of were generated here. Hardly ever was there ostentation and an architecture so powerfully oriented to its retreat. They were environment. And the only place in the Bay places for this elite of Naples, or in fact in the whole ancient to entertain and world, where villas like these are well preser- negotiate. Some of ved in their total context is Stabiae. Only the most crucial here, where the site is still largely free of events of the late modern buildings, can one excavate several Republic occurred entire complexes, and only here do well pre- in these villas. served villas preserve the view of the Bay When the eighteen from the villas. Only here can one stand in a year old Octavian frescoed ancient Roman seaview triclinium (later Augustus) (dining room), and feel the cooling breezes learned in April 44 and the view fields and mountains of the B.C. that he was Sorrento peninsula behind, just as one could Caesar’s heir, he two thousand years before. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:38 Pagina 3

A cultural panorama of Roman antiquity

VESUVIUS

APPENNINES BOSCOREALE

POMPEII

VILLAS OF ANCIENT STABIAE

Changing International Archaeology: A New Type of Foundation, and a Park Integrated with Ancient Pompeii and Modern Castellammare di Stabia

Since the inception of the Restoring Ancient Superintendent of Pompei, Stabiae project, archaeology has been intimate- as an experiment in the sha- ly integrated with architectural design and local ring the management of a urbanism. major archaeological site The site is very difficult to reach today, but with an international enti- with one simple connection (a funicu- ty, with the intent that this lar to the local commuter rail sta- might become the model tion) it could be reached by for the future develop- tourists from Pompei in only ment of European archa- ten minutes. The site could eology. The RAS Foundation function as a major ur- is in effect not a “foreign” ban park even when the project in Italy, but a non- villas are closed, and profit cultural foundation in obviously a major park Italy with the ability to receive here could be the key and spend both state and pri- to the economic and vate funds. It is now also cultural revival of the incorporated in the USA in entire region. The site Washington D.C. and the abi- has been a protected lity to manage private and archaeological area sin- institutional funds from ce 1957 and is still largely the US and Italy are key to unencumbered with mod- making it a more flexible arm ern buildings. of the Italian Superintendancy of Archaeology. The global budget for the full A major archaeological park at the great villas property acquisition, excavation, of Stabiae, working together with the other conservation and construction on the sites of the area would create cultural panora- archaeological park is tentatively estimated ma of ancient Rome: town (Pompeii and at c. €140 million, mostly to be funded by the Herculaneum), farm (Boscoreale) and elite villa European Community. (Stabiae). A project of this scale, which would probably be The project foresees the largest archaeological project in modern extensive new exca- Europe, requires rethinking how modern inter- vation on at least national archaeology is done. The RAS project three villas and part was created at the invitation of the Super- of a small town site, intendancy of Archaeology of Pompei in 1998 major experimenta- and presented a Master Plan to the Super- tion with roofing intendancy in 2001. and conservation, The Foundation is now (since Feb 2001) an an-on-site museum innovative non-profit cultural foundation in of villa culture, and Italy with international board representation associated urbanistic directly from the Superintendancy, from local projects including supporters in Castellammare di Stabia and creating access to from the School of Architecture of the the site by commu- University of Maryland. The Foundation has ter train from Pom- been characterized by Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, pei in ten minutes. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:38 Pagina 4

Eruption and Excavation

Excavations: Twice-Told Tales Stabiae was buried in the same cataclysmic followed the walls in order to find and remo- eruption that buried Pompeii and Hercula- ve sections of frescoes. Once a plan was neum on the 24th of August, A.D. 79. Pliny the drawn, the site was backfilled and its loca- Elder died on the beach at Stabiae at the villa tion completely forgotten until 1950. of his friend Pomponianus when the sixth and In that year the principal of the local high last fiery pyroclastic surge swept across the school discovered the site and reopened Bay in the morning of August 25th. excavations with volunteers (included his The site was buried under about 3.5 meters janitor and an unemployed mechanic). of loose volcanic cinder and ash, excellently Only a small part of what was found in the preserving the buildings. eighteenth century (green in the plan below) The first excavations at Stabiae (1749-82) was has been re-excavated and is currently stand at the very beginning of modern ar- open to view (red in the plan below). Other chaeology, along with those at Pompeii and huge areas lie totally unexplored. The expo- Herculaneum. sed parts of the site are currently visitable by Under Charles III Bourbon of Naples extensi- the public. Major new excavations are plan- ve areas of several villas and a small town ned to recover at least two or three of the were dug by means of low tunnels which enormous complete villa complexes. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:38 Pagina 5

Twice told tales

Ancient City

Villa San Marco

Villa del Pastore

Villa Arianna

The site of Stabiae is a protected archaeological park of some 80 h. It consists of several large villas built side by side along the edge of a 50m. high cliff, once overlooking the shore, and now the modern town of Castellammare di Stabia. Only three of the villas are now partly visible and visitable (in two locations, the Villa San Marco and the Villa Arianna).There is also a neighboring town site (perhaps the town destroyed by Sulla in 89 B.C. during the Social War), and several “villae rusticae” in the area outside the park. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 6

The concept of park

Villas as Entertainment Complexes and Political Meeting Places for the Elite The main period of the great villas of their pat- Stabiae was very brief: all were built rons and hosts, between 89 B.C., when the small and the patrons town of Stabiae was destroyed used the talents during the Social War by of many diff- legate general Lucius Corn- erent types of elius Sulla, and the eruption people to create of A.D. 79. remarkable stage These were the tumultuous sets for their act- decades when the later Roman ivities. Republic was being transformed The great villa own- into the Roman Empire. During ers usually had se- this period the site of Stabiae was veral, and moved bet- rebuilt as a continuous string of ween them as national villas-a virtual resort-on the cliff business required. edge overlooking the sea. The villas Cicero called his villa at of the Bay of Naples were complex Formiae “not a villa but and pivotal phenomena of Roman a public lounge.” culture. Many social classes surged In the early first cen- through them under the control of tury A.D. another rush

Malibu, Getty Museum, reconstruction of the Villa of the Papyri Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 7

The roman culture of power and luxury

of great villas was built around the Bay of Naples by the “nouveau riches” who made huge fortu- nes under the new regime of Augustus. The Stabian villas represent the grandeur of the original elite villas, which are characterized not only by their much greater size, but also by their powerful orient- ation to the landscape. At Stabiae, and only at Stabiae, are these villas so well preser- mer breezes just as two thousand years ago. ved - thanks to Ves- Only Stabiae offers the view from well-pre- uvius - that one can served Roman seaside villas. stand in frescoed With full excavations and didactic displays, triclinium and the archaeological park at Stabiae will bec- enjoy sea views, ome the definitive place to study the pheno- mountain views, menon of the elite Roman villa in its total and cold sum- context.

Stabiae, Villa San Marco Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 8

The Great Sea-View Villas of Ancient Stabiae

The “Villa San Marco” and the Ancient Town Site At present, only two small sections of the enormous site is re-excavated and open to the public, the so-called Villa San Marco, and the Villa Arianna. The villas were very different from one another, and had many zones, sometimes combi- ning agricultural and work areas with luxury. With full excavations, it will be possible to recover the entire machinery of these huge complexes, including the relation to the sea in front and the agricultural territory behind. The villas were usually occupied only a few The plan shows: weeks a year and owners moved their reti- 1 The town site of Stabiae (now buried) nues from one to another. 2 The street leading to the Villa San Marco The first excavation plans were done in the 3 The entrance peristyle and atrium eighteenth century by military engineer Karl Weber under extremely difficult condi- of the Villa San Marco tions: tunneled excavations followed walls 4 The atrium and plans were drawn piecemeal. They are 5 The thermal bath nonetheless remarkably accurate. The town 6 The lower peristyle and nymphaeum-fountain site is to the left and part of the villa San 7 The upper peristyle (only partly excavated) Marco to the right. The plans were publi- shed only in 1886. The sea-edge cliff and shore were to the lower right.

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Villa San Marco Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 10

The Great Sea-View Villas of Ancient Stabiae

The Villa “Arianna” (of “Ariadne”) The Stabiae villas were among the largest in the Roman world, up to some 14,000 sq. meters, including garden areas. In addition to a traditional atrium and service rooms of a typical town mansion (domus), they had numerous dining and sitting rooms with sea and mountain views, frescoes often imitating famous Greek paintings, private bath complexes, fountain courts with formal gardens and art collections and “air conditioned” summer corridors (underground porticoes with cooling fountains called “cryptoporticus”). Pliny the Younger suggested that the huge courtyard gardens were built mainly as places to stroll and digest one’s meal while conversing after dinner (often with a hired philosopher). The frescoes of the Villa Arianna are particularly high in quality and exhibit a variety of architectural, dramatic and lyrical/classicizing styles.

The villa Arianna is an immense complex built in several phases: 1 stables and farm courts; 4 sea wiew dining rooms and cubicula; 2 entrance peristyle 5 garden triclinium (dining room); 3 main atrium 6 great peristyle courtyard (as yet unexcavated).

3 4 5

2 6

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Villa Arianna Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 12

The art of Ancient Stabiae

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A “museum” of Hellenistic-Roman art

The decorative art of the Stabiae villas inclu- zing style; others featuring vivid portraits, des some of the finest of Roman fresco architectural vistas or dreamy sacred fantasy work, and a wide variety of other media. landscapes. The frescoes represent a wide variety styles: The Egyptianizing motifs on the obsidian cups some in a “Baroque” Hellenistic style, proba- reflect a contemporary fascination with Egypt bly imitating famous paintings of Greek after the defeat of Anthony and Cleopatra by masters; others in a unique, lyrical, classici- Augustus.

2 3 4

1. Villa Arianna, Flora, one of four figures from a presumed woma- n’s apartment, in a very unique “lyrical” floating style 2. Villa Arianna, room 9, tapestry style, detail with bird 3. Villa san Marco, putto 4. Villa Arianna, room with early second style fresco, c. 80 B.C. 5. Villa San Marco, Sacro-Idyllic landscape 6. Villa Arianna, two portraits 5 Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 14

The art of Ancient Stabiae

1. Villa del Pastore, (Good Shepherd) statuette of the “Good Shepherd” from the garden 2. Villa Petraro, stucco from the unfinished bath, Narcissus 3. Villa San Marco, ceiling fresco, upper peristyle courtyard, planisphere 4. Villa San Marco, obsidian inlay cup, with Egyptianizing motifs 5. and 6. Villa Arianna, “Pylades” (right) and “Hippolytus” (left) - Greek heroes from the main triclinium, depicting scenes from classical tragedies in a dramatic Hellenistic “Baroque” style, possibly copies of famous Greek paintings 4 Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 15

A “museum” of Hellenistic-Roman art

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A contemplative visit to Stabiae

A visit to the future archaeological park at Stabiae will be entirely different from the visit to the townsites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pompeii and Herculaneum represent small, bustling provincial port towns, crowded with streets, baths, markets, a forum, temples, tow- nhouses and shops...and some 2.5 million modern visitors a year. Stabiae, on the other hand, was a Roman “Riviera,” a series of enormous villas owned by the social elite not just of Campania, but from Rome itself, the preserve exclusively of those who had their hands on the reins of power. The social machinery of these villas was very elaborate and fascinating, and very different from the mansions of any other period in history. Every morning throngs of clients filled the atrium and the street outside, in afterno- ons a hierarchy of staff, slave and free, guided more privileged guests deeper inside to much prized invitations to use the thermal spa or dine lavishly in one of many dining rooms. The women moved about freely in the house and attended dinner parties with the men, and the more ambitious were often acute and valued political advisors. Even with 150,000 visitors a year, the archaeological park of Stabiae will remain a quiet, breezy cliff-edge promenade with a breathtaking panorama of the bay of Naples, a place for a contemplative visit, allowing visitors to become fully immersed in the ambience of the villas of the powerful Roman social elite. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 17

Roman Aristocratic Life in Context Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 18

Principal features of the Archaeological Park

The Master Plan calls for the creation of a pedestrian promenade along the edge of the cliff connecting the various villa excavation sites, giving a continuous panorama of the Bay of Naples. The park should be rin- ged by trees to allow it to be visible from Pompei. The main node would be the site at the Villa Arianna where a funicular could connect the Circumvesu- viana railroad station with the Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 19

Recovering the total environment of the Roman elite

site, so that visitors could leave the front gates at Pompei and be at Stabiae in ten minutes. The site offers opportunities for a major museum of Roman villa culture, and the park could function as a city park and summer evening concert venue even when the villas are closed. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 20

Principal features of the Archaeological Park

Cliff Cliff-edge villas Services and museum SIX ZONES OF Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 21

Recovering the total environment of the Roman elite

Agricultural fields Perimeter pines zone behind ES OF PLANNING Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 22

The Archaeological Park in the modern urban fabric

The Archaeological Park will not exist in isolation from the modern Vesuvian cities, but in fact it will be the critical link in a series of urban nodes and regional developments which could reshape and revitalize the entire area; the park would be the “jewel in the crown” of Castellammare, the key to the other developments, many of which are already in development: • the waterfront hotels, yacht harbor and restaurants; Archaeological park • urban commuter rails and infill projects; • a linked series of urban parks and greenbelt; development of museums and markets of local culture; • access to hiking and “agri-tourism” in the mountains Piazza D’Orsi funicula of the Amalfi- Sorrento peninsula; • and development of Castellammare’s traditional twenty-eight thermal springs and spas. Railroad station urban infill

International yacht harbor

The award-winning railroad station urban-infill project

A study of the recuperation of the area of the out-of-use state railroad station developed by students and faculty of the University of Maryland, January, 2002. The project connects the residential zone behind the tracks to the seaside quay. The project was awarded a prize in 2004 by the prestigious Congress for the New Urbanism in the USA. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 23

Archaeology as the key to cultural and economic revitalization

Since 2000 the faculty and students of the School of Architecture of the University of Maryland have done a continuing series of designconcept studies in areas outside the park. In 2005 they coordinated four American and four Italian architecture schools who developed proposals to improve access to all the major archaeological sites in the region: Pompei, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae. These concept projects are influencing the Terme nuove public park development of Castellammare. Historic Castellammare funicular tation ll

The “Piazza D’Orsi” Multi-use Project and CommuterRail/Funicular Access

An advanced concept study for the multi-use piazza “Libero D’Orsi,” commissioned by the comune of Castellammare from the faculty and students of the University of Maryland, December, 2002. The project connects the point of arrival of the autostrada, the main road to Nocera, and the historic center of Castellammare to the Circumvesuviana commuter rail with the archeological park. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 24

Projects since 2001

An historic loan of cultural patrimony The Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation is export of Italian treasures by allowing parti- structured to organize many activities in addi- cipating U.S. institutions to borrow objects tion to the development of the park itself. from the sites they are working on for long The four-year tour of the exhibit “In Stabiano” term loan for study or exhibition. is an historic international cultural exchange: it On Jan. 19, 2006 the Cultural Properties is the first long-term loan of Italian cultural Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department properties under an Italian-U.S. Memorandum of State renewed the MOU for five more of Understanding of 2002 which allows the years and uniquely cited the RAS Foun- long term loan of cultural properties to U.S. dation’s tour as a major success of the institutions which participate in the excavation agreement. “The United States is pleased and maintenance of Italian sites. that, pursuant to the MOU, Italy now permits Normally objects do not leave Italy for more international loans of objects of antiquity for than twelve months. The intention of the up to four years. Since 2004, the highly suc- memorandum is to reduce legal or illegal cessful In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 25

“In Stabiano” US Tour

Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite has been on a tour to nine American museums, which will end in 2008.” A specific catalogue has been produced for the exhibition. The tour is accompanied by the video done in collaboration with Capware: “The last night of Sta- biae,” a virtual reconstruction of Villa San Marco and the eruption that buried the areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae. Almost three million visitors saw the exhibit in Washington D.C., and subsequent ope- nings have broken local records for atten- dance. Roman frescoes rarely travel to the U.S. and few U.S. museums have collections. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 26

Projects since 2001

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. April 26-October 24, 2005 Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas February 11 - Held over until May 15, 2005 Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada October 23, 2005- January 22, 2006 San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, February 18- May 14, 2006 Michael C. Carlos Museum of Art Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia August 5 - October 22, 2006 Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio November 20 - February 12, 2007 Elvehjem Museum of Art University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin March 17 - June 3, 2007 Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas July 9 - October 11, 2007 The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Jacksonville, Florida November 7, 2008 - February 3, 2008 Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:39 Pagina 27

“In Stabiano” US Tour

Special Events

Visited Museums Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 28

Projects since 2001

The Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation almost 300 pieces, most never shown to the offers the field of archaeology the extra- public, that are among the most beautiful ordinary opportunity to convene and ex- found in the seaside villas of Stabiae of the change between different cultures. With first century A.D. The curatorial project is this spirit, RAS is organizing another impor- headed by Prof. Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, the tant exhibition, Otium ludens, a tour which Superintendent of Archaeology of Pompei. will reach the audience of the most impor- The first venue of the world tour will be in tant museums in the world. Equally, this will the splendid setting of Hermitage Museum serve to establish contacts within the cultu- in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the exhibi- ral and academic environment of each tou- tion will be on show starting on May 18, ched country, involving it in RAS’s mission 2007. This event is particularly important for to realize the Archaeological Park at Ancient Russia, as it had never before hosted an Stabiae. Otium ludens is an exhibition of exhibition devoted to the sites that were huge proportions and importance, including buried by Mt. Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 A.D. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 29

Otium ludens tour

The exhibition will then travel to China, donation that will enable its restoration. A Japan and Australia. The exhibition design is preview of Otium ludens tour will be presen- done by architects Salvatore Abbate and ted on July 1, 2006 at the Villa Rufolo Angela Vinci. A specific catalogue will be Museum in Ravello, as part of the internatio- produced for the exhibition and will transla- nal music and arts events of Ravello Festival. ted in the language of each country visited The preview will feature a selection of nine by the exhibition. frescoes from Villa Arianna, Villa San Marco, Some of the restoration work for the fresco- and the Secondo Complesso. es shown in the exhibition have been made The tour will be accompanied by the video possible by RAS’s unique initiative, “Adopt a done in collaboration with Capware: ”The Fresco.” The objective of this pilot program last night of Stabiae,” a virtual reconstruc- is to directly involve individuals and corpora- tion of Villa San Marco and the eruption that tions interested in becoming sponsors of the buried the areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum art at Stabiae, by “adopting” a fresco with a and Stabiae.

For further information regarding Otium ludens tour: Architect Angela Vinci - Project Manager – Exhibition designer [email protected] Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 30

Projects since 2001

In 2001 €4.5 million were awarded to the Superintendancy of Archaeology of Pompei under the “RAS Master Plan 2001” for a series of projects aimed rapidly to improve the access to the site. They include the first two excavations at the Villa San Marco, a new parking area for the Villa Arianna, reorganization of the drainage of the Villa Arianna Great Peristyle area, and several other conservation projects. Similar funds have come from a variety of sources. Some €600,000 were awarded by the Region of Campania in 2004 to promote the Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 31

The Buildings

“Bellissima Campania” events and the “In Stabiano” exhibit at the Smithsonian in Washington, and €600,000 were awarded to RAS by a private banking foundation in Italy to build the first phase of the new visitors’ center. The visitors’ center has the unusual status of having formal approval of being a building, made by a private foundation on a public site because of the special status of the RAS Foundation in its design and funding. This represents a 40% of the total costs of opera- tions to build the first phase. Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 32

Projects since 2001

The first two excavations, funded by the 2001 award from the EU/ Region of Campania, have been planned by the RAS Foundation upon invitation of the Superintendancy of Pompei. Excavations are to be contract excavations managed by the Superintendancy, and are due to begin in 2006. The first excavation will open the original entrance courtyard of the Villa San Marco (partly excavated for the first time in the eighteenth century) and will create a new entrance to the villa by creating a ramp descending to the original Roman street level in front of the villa. The next will liberate the fragile nymphaeum-fountain in the center of the Villa San Marco lower peristyle courtyard. Geophisical survey (ground penetrating radar and magnetometry) in 2002 revealed that the Upper-Peristyle Courtyard of the Villa San Marco extends to c. 113 meters. Villa San Marco

The outline of the plan of the peristyle Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 33

The excavations underway

In the aerial photo of Villa San Marco to the left, the Meg Watters of University of Birmingham on site. The angle of the peristyle is evident, as discovered by the recent archaeological trials have confirmed the pre- geophysical survey work of Meg Watters in 2002. sence of the peristyle that she found in 2002.

The model of Villa San Marco shows a reconstruction of the peristyle Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 34

Projects since 2001

Historic Opportunity: A New Zone for World Scholarship and Artistic Study

The RAS Foundation is organizing educational most progressive medieval trading republics and training activities at all levels, from local (e.g. Amalfi); Angevin French and Bourbon primary schools to advanced research in cult- Spanish; the beginnings of collecting and ure and archaeology. One of its most ambitious archaeology itself in the eighteenth century; and innovative is a residential research center the music and banking economic archives of for undergraduate and graduate visitors to the Naples; Baroque art and churches; the opera Bay of Naples area based on the concept of the of Teatro San Carlo; Neapolitan street music numerous international academies in Rome and its famous cuisine and viniculture...even (e.g. the French or American Academies), which modern fireworks are essentially Neapolitan! house classicists, historians, musicians, artists and architects. The Bay of Naples is culturally one of the most significant areas in the history of Europe, and still one of the least studied. A new generation of scholars and artists is just beginning to work in the area. It is an area where the flux and collision of cultures over three millennia have provided much human drama, much human tragedy, and inexhausti- ble artistic and cultural richness: the traces of Greeks and Etruscans; ancient Campanians and imperial Romans; Byzantine and Saracen; the Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 35

The Vesuvian “Multicultural” Study Institute

The center would serve: • Advanced researchers from the institutes in Rome doing archival research, often spending weeks to a semester in residence • An Italian archaeological college granting advanced masters in archaeology • International researchers who work out of Pompei • U.S. undergraduate study tours of 20 to 30 students and professors for one to three weeks • US university and elder hostel groups of 10 to 30, for one to three weeks • Visiting artists • Architectural design studios, US universi- ties, 10 to 20 for one to three weeks • Groups who bring their own directors or faculty, or advanced researchers who know how to find research resources and facilities. The RAS Foundation has received a formal offer of sale from the Salesian Fathers for a fully equipped beautiful residential school complex overlooking Castellammare and the commuter rail station, with seventy bedrooms with bath, dining hall, lecture theater and offices. RAS is now organizing funding and institutional participants. Various institutes which have written letters of interest in developing some type of participation in this institute include the American Academy in Rome, the British School in Rome, the University of Naples Federico II, and the University of California San Diego.

Institutions seeking more information on possible participation in the center should contact: • Notary Ferdinando Spagnuolo, Board of Trustees of the RAS Foundation [email protected] • Prof. Thomas Noble Howe, Coordinator General, RAS Foundation [email protected] • Architect Leonardo Varone, U.S. Executive Coordinator for RAS Foundation [email protected] Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 36

Projects since 2001

Most of the €140 million for this historic and received substantial support from an Italian ambitious project (70%) will come from Italian- banking foundation for the first phase of the administered EU funds for cultural projects. visitors’ center. Starting in 2006 RAS is sup- However, it is the Foundation’s ability to receive porting a number of the most essential pro- and spend both private and public funds from jects to initiate the large-scale archaeologi- both inside and outside Italy which gives the cal work on the site. Foundation the crucial extra flexibility relative to its partner organization, the Superintendancy of • A Conservation Survey and urgent interven- Archaeology of Pompei. The private funds main- tion: a project to survey the current state of tain the professional staff and create the pro- the exposed frescoes, and conserve those jects which will win the larger state funds. which are most in need before it is too late, In 2005, RAS created a new incorporation in leading to a conservation master plan. Washington, D.C., that received its non-profit • “Adopt a Fresco,” a project to do urgent conser- status approval early in 2006. RAS has already vation work on detached fragments in storage Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 37

RAS Priority projects 2006-2008

which will be sent in 2006-2007 on internatio- School of Architecture. 3. A virtual reality data- nal exhibitions at the Hermitage in St. Peter- base for historical reconstruction, probably to be sburg, Russia, (May 18, 2007) and possibly also developed by Virginia Technical Institute. to China and Australia. • Precision cartography • Interlinked databases, essential to linking toge- (Univ. of Pennsylvania) ther a widely dispersed international team of • General geophysical survey of the entire area on professionals. Three databases are under deve- and around the site (Univ. of Birmingham, Univ. lopment: 1. An archaeological 3D GIS database, of Naples, Federico II). Most of this farmland and probably to be developed by University of park has never been explored and the full extent Maryland and a consortium of small U.S. liberal of the villas is still unknown. They may well arts colleges lead by Southwestern University; 2. extend to the next hill, for a distance of 3-4 km. An architectural and engineering 3D database, to be developed by the University of Maryland Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 38 Stabiae Master Plan INGLESE 28-06-2006 9:40 Pagina 39

Contact Information

The Board of Directors President Prof. Pietro Giovanni Guzzo Superintendent of Archaeology of Pompei Vice President Prof. Matthew Bell University of Maryland, School of Architecture [email protected] Executive Member of the Board Notary Ferdinando Spagnuolo Castellammare di Stabia [email protected]

Senior Staff Coordinator General Prof. Thomas Noble Howe Southwestern University [email protected] U.S. Executive Coordinator Architect Leonardo Varone EEK Architects, Washington, D.C. [email protected] U.S. Development Director Dr. Richard Seely Seely and Associates, Washington, D.C. [email protected]

Offices RAS-Italy Piazza Unita d’Italia, 13 80053, Castellammare di Stabia Italy Ph: +39.081.8700274 (Marianna Cirillo) RAS-USA 888 16th St. NW, Suite 800 Washington, D.C. 20006 001.202.349.9873 (Cristina Marcantonio)

Website www.stabiae.org

Activity realized by the RAS Foundation, with the contribution of ACRI in the frame of the project Development south Campania for the Vesuvian Archaeological District. Stabiae Master Plan COPERTINA ING 28-06-2006 9:49 Pagina 2

NEQUE TAMEN DUBITO QUIN TU IN ILLO CUBICULO TUO, EX QUO TIBI STABIANUM PERFORASTI ET PATEFACISTI MISENUM, PER EOS DIES MATUTINA TEMPORA LECTIUNCULIS CONSUMPSERIS, CUM ILLI INTEREA, QUI TE ISTIC RELIQUERANT, SPECTARENT COMMUNES MIMOS SEMISOMNI. Tulli Ciceronis Epistulae ad Familiares VII.I.I. S. D. M.Mario, Romae A.V.C. 699 And yet I doubt not that you, while sitting in your cubiculum (chamber), from which you have opened upa view of the Stabian stage, have passed the morning hours glancing at the scenery, while those [in Rome]who have left you there, can hardly stay awake while gazing at the farceson the public stage (trans. TNH)Cicero, Letters to Friends 7.1.1. To Marcus Marius, From Rome, 55 B.C.