Somma Vesuviana

In 2001 the University of Tokyo launched, with the concession from the Archaeological Superintendent Office of Naples, an interdisciplinary research project lasting 6 years. The object of the research is the area of the so-called Villa of Augustus, situated in the locality of Starza della Regina, in the Municipality of Somma Vesuviana.

The first investigations in this site were undertaken in the 30s of the 20th century after the fortuitous discovery of a wall of notable dimensions in the course of agricultural work, which immediately indicated the presence of an architectural complex of certain importance in that area. The excavation, executed from 1934-36 by Matteo Della Corte under the supervision of Amedeo Maiuri, brought to light the remains of a monumental building. The building was preserved for the maximum height of about 9 m in elevation and had been destroyed, according to the same excavators, by the ‘mud lava consequent to the eruption of 79 AD’, when the restoration work after the earthquake of 1962 was still underway.

Among the discovered structures the most majestic was a ‘colonnade with arches and pilasters’, oriented East-West and identified for the length of approximately 12 m; it was connected perpendicularly with a ‘brick wall’ and decorated with three niches. Apart from them, ‘columns and capitals of marble, pavements in mosaic, beautiful fragments of statues of a person in heroic dress () polychrome stucco of walls and lacunars’ were also discovered.

Despite the limited extension of the investigation conducted then (approximately 70 square metres), the monumental characters of the constructions brought back to light and the their topographic location were judged sufficient elements to identify in the complex the residence, many times recorded in the literary sources (Suet. Aug. 98; 100; Tib. 40 Tac., Ann., I, 5;I, 9; IV, 57) and situated apud Nolam, in which the emperor Augustus spent the last days of his life …

Masanori Aoyagi

Altair 4 is in charge of the 3D graphics processing of all data coming from the excavation in progress, updating the model in the course of the excavation as well as documenting the phases of the excavation itself.