Phlegraean fields

Under the sea of the Phlegraean fields an ancient city rest. An underwater city made of important villas, large streets and stupendous ornaments. The underwater city of Baia it’s a few kilometres off the coast and its almost unbelievable how a city under the water could keep its structure in a so perfect way. There still are amphoras and vases, at their place, after centuries.
Over the years, unfortunately, there have been divers who stole a lot of objects from the city, but nevertheless the floor is still very rich. At the present time, thanks to a boat with a transparent bottom, it’s possible to visit the Underwater city and admire its ancient beautiful remains. The expert divers can make underwater excursion too.
The underwater city of Baia is just one thing you must not miss if you are in the surroundings of the Phlegraean fields.

When: Boat tour: for the groups, every day, the boat leaves every hour. Individuals: only Saturday and Sunday: 10 am, 12 pm and 15 pm. Reservation is always required and it’s free: call the number: 0039-3494974183 or write an e-mail: prenotazioni@baiasommersa.it
Tickets: 10 €, reduced tickets (children from 4 to 12 years) 9 €

This castle was built in a strategic place from where it was easy to control all Pozzuoli’s gulf. It rise on the edges of two inactive volcanoes called “Fondi di Baia”. This castle has been impregnable for long time. At the present time it is a star shaped fortress thanks to the Spanish vicerey Pedro Álvarez de Toledo and it took this form after the terrible eruption that gave rise to the volcano Montenuovo (the volcano which rose in one night). The terrace that overlooks over the sea is one of the best observation point of all Campi Flegrei because it allows to see all the gulf offering a huge and stupendous view.
Over the years the Castle has been used for different things: it has been a prison, an orphanage and a refuge for the evacuee of the earthquake in 1980. So the castle has been subject to many alteration therefore it has completely lost its original layout. The castle is seat of the Archaeological Museum of the Phlegraean fields, where there are the magnificent archaeological finds of all the Phlegraean fields territory.

When: From 9 am to one hour before the sunset. Public holidays 9 am to 8 pm.
Tickets: 4€, this ticket comprehends the Amphitheatre Flavio in Pozzuoli, the archaeological site of the Romans Spa and the Castle.
Never: Monday. If Monday it’s a public holiday the museum on Tuesday it’s closed.

The Roman building known in the Phlegraean fields as “Cento camerelle” (literally: One hundred little rooms) it’s one of the most charming archaeological finds in all the territory. Little tunnels dig into tuff create a complicate web of alleys, when the light is right, it really looks like a diabolic labyrinth. In the past the “cento camerelle” was known as “Nero’s prisons” for its tangled shape. Actually the cento camerelle is a part of one of the enormous patrician villas that was in Baia. An other big Roman building, that leaves the visitor astonished is the Piscina Mirabilis (Mirabilis pool). It’s an huge basin built underground, with numerous aisles, it was a freshwater cistern. It’s the biggest Roman cistern ever discovered, and its measures are incredible: It is 72 meters long, 25 meters wide and 15 meters high and it has the capacity of 12.600 cubic metres. The aqueduct brought the water of the river Serino to Naples and to the Phlegaean fields, covering a course of 100 kilometres.

The Phlegraean Fields food is rich of tastes and offer good products. It’s a seaside place, so there are a lot of fishermen families, it’s clearly that the typical dishes of the Phlegraean tradition are made with seafood. In the restaurants of Bacoli and Pozzuoli the chefs are specialized in bringing out the taste of the seafood and all these delicacy should be served with the typical wine of these area: the Phlegraean fields Falanghina, a dainty white wine. If you don’t like seafood you’ll be able to choose among other products, for example cheese and groceries, all produced here. The country houses often offers these kind of food and the best ones are in the area of Baia and Monte di Procida, while the best restaurants are in Pozzuoli. If you don’t want to eat typical product and you want to have a sandwich and an imported beer, Pozzuoli has a lot of pubs to meet your desires: if you want to eat in a pub, it’s your choice, but you can do it every day of the year when you are in your country…

The monumental park of Baia keeps a lot of Romans archaeological finds collected all around the Phlegraean fields. When Cuma was a powerful town, the patrician used to come in Baia to spend their holidays, that’s how Baia became one of the holiday resort most known of the antiquity and that’s why that all these rich Romans built their villas here. Baia was the Capri of the antiquity and all the ancient rich people made this place became the land of the dissolution and of the fun without limits. The visit at the Monumental Park of Baia it’s a path that will bring you in the splendour of the past, from the ancient spa zone to the remains of the villas built in the higher zone. The uncontrolled housing speculation risked to erase for ever the ancient history of Baia: Suffice it to say that, on the highest part of the park, near the cellar of a big villa, there’s a house in which lived a solitary nun, the legend tells that she was crazy because the devil persecute her.

Nero’s family was very similar to Hamlet one. Agrippina, his mother, was murdered under his order in 59 AC, because Nero knew that she was projecting to kill him. Nero ordered to sink her boat, indeed Agrippina was coming back from Baia where she participated at the Quintiquatrie (a Roman festival held in honour of the goddess Minerva). Agrippina had a narrow escape and she took refuge in her villa in Lucrino, where her son sent a firing squad to finally kill her.
The legend tells that Agrippina was buried in a Mausoleum in front of Baia’s port. The structure wrongly known as “Agrippina’s tomb” it’s actually a little theatre, of which just a little part is visible. The fishermen tell that in the full moon night on the water of the sea it’s possible to see a woman shadow who walks, dressed with a white tunic: it’s Agrippina.

How to get here: Bus lines SEPSA, Napoli – Torregaveta line Baia. Stop: Bacoli.
When: every day from 9 am to one hour before the sunset.
Tickets: Free entrance.

The finding of a statue representing Venus made people taught that it was a temple, but this was wrong, actually it was a spa pool, but it’s still called Temple of Venus. The Romans never taught to use this pool as a temple, at sure when they was relaxing in the warm waters of this spa they didn’t think about fulfilling their gods. The pool has a dome where some frescoes are still visible. Few meters away from this there’s an other temple dedicated to the hunting goddess Diana. Even this one isn’t a temple, it’s a part of the huge villa that the emperor Alessandro Severo built for his mother Giulia Mamea. Nowadays this building it’s into a private holding but if you look in direction of the rocky wall you’ll see it, laid down on the scrubs.

This hunting lodge, called in Italian “casina vanvitelliana” which literally means: “Vanvitelli’s little house”, it’s a very small villa built in the middle of the lake Fusaro in Bacoli. Borbone’s asked Vanvitelli to build it because in the Fusaro zone they had their hunting area and this little house served them to rest during the beat. Luigi Vanvitelli began the works to this house that was finished by his son Carlo, and it’s a beautiful example of XVIII century architecture. Nowadays it isn’t possible to visit the structure but in the past it hosted many famous people as Mozart and the ex president of the Italian Republic Luigi Einaudi. It is said that this house was used by the director Luigi Comencini to reproduce the blue fairy house, but it’s not true, actually it was used in a film: Ferdinando and Carolina by Lina Wertmüller, about the adventures of the Borbone king.

Phlegraean fields offers a lot of things to do, you can choose among discos, seaside clubs and romantic candlelight dinners. In Monte di Procida, the highest point of the area, on the panoramic road it’s full of pubs and pizzerias with a view on the sea, we suggest them for who want to spend a relaxed night. In the summertime, on the beaches of Miliscola and Miseno there are a lot of little bars where you can have a drink on the seashore or dance all the night. For the disco lovers in the area of Via Campana and Lucrino there are plenty of discos. To eat well, have a walk and meet people, the promenade of Pozzuoli (which has been recently remodelled) is the place for you, with its pubs, restaurants and pedestrian areas.

You can’t leave the Phlegraean fields without having bought at least one bottle of Falanghina. The wine growers of this zone will show you their best bottles and they will suggest you the dishes to match with the wine to exalt its characteristics. Beyond the common souvenirs shops, that you can find in all the tourist localities, in the towns of the Phlegraean fields you’ll find little workshops where there are exposed beautiful artworks. In this area the art of painting is very loved, maybe because the beauty of the landscape seems was made to be immortalized on the canvas, it isn’t difficult to find lovely painting that show details of this area, realized by Phlegraean artists.