In Bacoli, an underwater restoration project has brought to light a fabulous marble floor that belonged to a Roman villa. This impressive discovery is located in the extensive Submerged Archaeological Park of Baiae, the largest of its kind in the world.
The ongoing intervention has been carried out by CSR Restauro Beni Culturali and Naumacos Underwater Archaeology and Technology. The mayor of Bacoli, Josi Gerardo Della Ragione, expressed his enthusiasm through Facebook, celebrating the results of this underwater restoration:
Surprising. It is the magic of Baia Sommersa, a marble floor from an ancient Roman villa. The floor in opus sectile, with its elaborate geometric motifs and extraordinary craftsmanship, offers a fascinating window into the life and art of ancient Rome. This discovery allows visitors to immerse themselves in history, exploring the hidden wonders beneath the surface of the sea.
The opus sectile floor is a testament to the artistic and technical skill of the ancient Romans. These floors, made with pieces of marble in various colors and shapes, create complex geometric patterns that still amaze today with their beauty and precision.
Mayor Josi Gerardo Della Ragione has emphasized the importance of continuing restoration and conservation work, stressing that each discovery is a piece of Bacoli’s historical mosaic. This commitment to cultural heritage is essential to ensure that future generations can enjoy and learn from these valuable testimonies of the past.
The combination of modern technology, institutional collaboration, and dedication to conservation has made it possible for this submerged treasure to shine once again.
For its part, the Archaeological Park expressed the difficulty of the restoration work due to the extreme fragmentation of the remains:
Thousands of marble slabs, hundreds of different shapes, assembled to create an intricate geometry. We are in the Submerged Park of Baiae and this marble floor has been the subject of the latest underwater restoration works: a very complicated new challenge due to the extreme fragmentation of the remains and their large extent.
This is the opus sectile of the reception hall of the Villa with its prothyrum entrance: more than 250 square meters built towards the end of the Roman Empire, shortly before bradyseism carried the remains to the seabed.
A very costly and demanding intervention for the owner of the Villa, who had to settle for recycled materials, that is, second-hand marble, to create the chosen design, formed by squares joined together, each with inscribed circles.
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