Pollena Trocchia is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) in the

Metropolitan City of Naples The Metropolitan City of Naples ( it, Città metropolitana di Napoli) is an Italian metropolitan city in Campania region, established on 1 January 2015. Its capital city is Naples; within the city there are 92 comunes (municipalities). It wa ...

in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

region

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

, located about 11 km east of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

It was created in 1811 from two already existing villages, Pollena and Trocchia, both of Samnite-

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities ** Etrusca ...

origin. Pollena took its name from the cult of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

, who had an important temple here in the Roman and pre-Roman ages. Both were destroyed by the 1631 eruption of

Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma- stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...

. The baths of an ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

villa were discovered at Masseria De Carolis in Pollena Trocchia in 1988 and subsequently exposed.

History

Before the Roman colonisation, this area was probably inhabited by Italic peoples like Samnites and

Oscan Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian. Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including ...

s. Later it became a resort for rich patricians of Rome or for rich estate owners who built magnificent villas in the area. Excavations have shown that the north side of the

volcano was equally as populated as the southern side where Pompeii and Herculaneum lie, but have not been paid as much attention by historians. The area was buried during the eruptions of Vesuvius of 472, 505 and 512 AD and not

79 AD __NOTOC__ AD 79 ( LXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Titus and Vespasianus (or, less frequently, year 832 ''Ab ur ...

(like that which buried Pompeii etc.), and so was part of the community that continued after the earlier eruption and recovered better than the territories to the south. The baths were built after the 79 AD eruption and before the mid-2nd century. The eruptions of Vesuvius of 472 buried the lower floors but clearance work was done and occupation then continued in the upper levels until it was completely buried in the 505 and 512 eruptions.

Excavations

The site was first discovered during construction of apartment blocks but the builders tried to destroy it as a hindrance to their work. A brief site report classed it as agricultural and no further excavation was made. The site was forgotten and used for illegal dumping. The Apolline ProjectApolline Project https://www.apollineproject.org/ identified the site and from 2005 it was cleared and annual excavations started. 10 rooms of baths with massive structures have been discovered on two floors. An earlier villa is believed to be situated adjacent to them on the same site. Scavi - Pollena Trocchia - 2014 - 03

References

Cities and towns in Campania Populated places established in 1811 Roman villas in Italy Archaeological sites in Campania {{Campania-geo-stub