An immense cloud over Vesuvius alerted Pliny the Elder, the famous Roman naturalist and military man who served as Prefect of the Roman fleet in Misenum, an ancient port located at the western end of the Gulf of Naples. He quickly ordered his personal Liburna (a light boat with two rows of rowers) and several quadriremes (warships) to be prepared to set out to sea.
This is what his nephew (and later adopted son) Pliny the Younger tells it in his famous letters to the historian Tacitus recounting the events that occurred in the year 79 after Christ. Despite the blackened rocks, ash and pumice that crossed the skies, the ships headed towards Stabia, six kilometers south of Pompeii.
The house of Pomponianus, a friend of Pliny the Elder, was located in Stabia. They both stayed in the mansion, ate a hearty dinner and went to sleep without being particularly aware of the danger that lurked in front of them. By midnight, the situation had worsened.
Plinio and Pompoiano decided to leave the place due to fear that an earthquake would collapse the domus. Outside, however, another of the great problems of the eruption awaited them: the unbreathable air mixed with sulfur that took over the south of the city. Pliny the Elder collapsed and nothing could be done to save his life.
Almost two thousand years later, Italian archaeologists have discovered the remains of a monumental Roman villa, dating back to approximately the 1st century AD and which was built with cubilia (diamond-shaped bricks) of tuff. Experts believe that the house was the residence of the prefect of the Roman Tyrrhenian fleet, the Classis Misenensis, precisely the one who occupied Pliny the Elder when he died.
The house was located on the Sarparella point, a place protected by the great density of ancient testimonies scattered in the vicinity such as the Roman theater of Misenum, the College of the Augustales or the internal basin of the old port.
This area of ??great archaeological value had been abandoned and deteriorated due to illegal construction and the dumping of waste. When the municipal authorities regained control of the area, they launched an urban regeneration project. In the area where the domus was found, a children’s play area and paths were going to be built.
During excavations that began in 2021, researchers have identified a dozen large rooms with different construction phases, walking surfaces and traces of wall covering. The hypothesis that this was the house of Pliny the Elder is based on the fact that the place offered, due to its position, maximum visibility of the entire port basin and a wide view of the entire Gulf.
“This would have been the promontory from which Pliny the Elder, who held the position of Praefectus classis Misenensis, is supposed to have seen the eruption of Vesuvius and then set sail for Estabiae, to help the inhabitants of the cities in the different areas. coastal areas threatened by the eruption of Vesuvius,” the experts say in a statement.
The identification of these structures, near the area that was going to house the city forum, adds a piece of great importance to the knowledge of the articulation of the ancient settlement. The perimeter of the rooms has currently been well identified and fenced.
Ignorant of his uncle’s fate, Pliny the Younger remained in this town in Misenum with his mother during the eruption. “We saw that the sea was withdrawing in on itself and retreating as if pushed by earthquakes. Of course, the coast had advanced and a large number of marine animals were stranded on the dry sands,” he wrote in another letter to Tacitus.
Advised by a friend, they decided to leave the mansion and head north. Dozens of people had the same idea, so the road became impassable. Suddenly, a black cloud took over the place. Plinio realized his mistake and decided to return home, where they waited for his uncle, who never returned.
