Roman Villa of Capo di Sorrento

In Roman times, the Gulf of Naples was brimming with luxurious houses along the bay. The villa del Capo di Sorrento is an example par excellence for the Roman maritime villae. Built on the limestone slopes west of Sorrento, surrounded almost completely by the sea, it forms a prominent landmark on the south side of the gulf of Naples. The results of excavation and survey campaigns, including underwater recognition of the harbor basins, allow new assumptions concerning the original layout of the pars maritima and its elaborate harbor, the design of the decorative program as well as the appearance of the yet lesser known pars rustica, which extended at least on three great artificial terraces overlooking the cape and partly resting upon great vaulted cisterns. These enormous reservoirs which were connected and probably supplied by an aqueduct speak for an intensive use of water for both the agricultural and luxurious aspects of the villa. The terraces which until today dominate the appearance of the Cape of Sorrento are a key to the understanding of the manner in which the owner and his architect changed and (re-)designed the natural outline of this very special place - a central topic in Roman villegiatura and the respective literary sources.