Welcome to the site Napoliforme

Archaeological excavations on Varano hill, the area where the Roman Stabiae (Castellammare di Stabia) stood, began in the 18th century at the behest of the Bourbon kings. In contrast to Herculaneum and Pompeii, investigations were limited to identifying structures from which objects, paintings and mosaics were recovered, without carrying out systematic explorations. The underground passages were filled in after the finds had been recovered and the buildings remained underground.The large Roman villa built on the edge of the hill, in a panoramic position, takes its name from an eighteenth-century chapel dedicated to St Mark, now disappeared, and after the Bourbon assays (1749-1754) it was excavated between 1950 and 1962. It is a vast residential complex, about 11,000 square metres in size, built in the Augustan age and enlarged later (in the Claudian age), when other panoramic rooms were added to the initial nucleus of the atrium, such as the garden with triporticus and swimming pool, and the upper portico with twisted columns. It was an elegant and sumptuous residence with rooms decorated with splendid frescoes and a luxurious bathing quarter preceded by a small atrium decorated with scenes of cupids wrestling and boxing. On this side is a section of the travertine staircase (the limestone rock used in construction) that forms part of the winding ramps connecting the structure to the flat area closer to the coast.