Somma Vesuviana


Somma Vesuviana is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy.

History

Before the Roman colonisation, the area of today's Somma Vesuviana was probably inhabited by Italic peoples like Samnites and Oscans.
Later it became a vacation place for the rich patricians of Rome, who built magnificent villas in the area.
A large Roman villa was discovered in the 1930s in the frazione of Starza della Regina, and interpreted as that of emperor Augustus at Nola where he probably passed his last days of life.
Excavation have shown that this north side of Vesuvius was equally as populated as the southern side where Pompeii and Herculaneum lie, but has not been paid as much attention by historians.
In 2002 excavations on the villa started again which determined that the villa was buried during the eruption of Vesuvius of 472 AD and not 79 AD, and so was part of the community that continued after the earlier eruption and recovered better than the territories to the south. Much of the villa has been brought to light with its rich decoration.
The part excavated so far includes a monumental entrance of a vast Roman villa dating from the mid-2nd century AD. The rooms are majestic and used as audience halls for visitors.
Baths of a Roman villa were also discovered in nearby Pollena Trocchia in 1988 and subsequently exposed.

Main sights