Outreach in the environs of Vesuvius: jazz, wine, and mystery novels for kids

For those who are currently on the slopes of Vesuvius, there are a few events you might want to attend.

Continuing the profitable collaboration between the Pomigliano Jazz Festival and the Apolline Project, today at 4pm the Roman Baths in Pollena Trocchia will be open to the public. The event will be followed by a jazz concert (free of charge) in Villa Cappelli (a remarkable nobleman's house of the mid-18th century with a fake Roman ruin in the garden and a real Roman altar).

Similarly, next Saturday there will be a guided tour of the so-called Villa of Augustus in Somma Vesuviana, with particular emphasis on the wine cellar. The event will be followed by wine tasting with the local producer Cantine Olivella.

On Sunday, at 7pm the young kids of the school "Ascoltando i bambini" in Pollena Trocchia will meet Caroline Lawrence, the talented author of the Roman Mystery Novels. The students will recreate some of the key scenes of her book "The Secrets of Vesuvius" and will ask questions on the Roman cults. The event is organised by the Apolline Project.

Otium et Negotium in Vesuvius' Shadow - Monday 5th August 2013 at the British Academy in London

Otium et Negotium in Vesuvius’ Shadow: a colloquium on latest research trends on economy and culture of Roman villas

Monday 5 August 2013 — 9:30 until noon  and  2:00 until 4:30 — The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace

Purposefully coinciding with the British Museum’s current exhibition Life and Death: Pompeii and Herculaneum, this one-day colloquium will offer a series of lectures, updates on hows and whys pertaining to the study of life in classical Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other sites in the bay of Naples.

Brigham Young University's London Centre hosts a colloquium of scholars from institutions in Italy, the UK, and the US. It is structured in three parts — intellectual life as shown in the Herculaneum papyri and other written sources, new scholarly insights into the economy of Roman villas (especially their exploitation and management of land and marine resources), and how understanding Roman villa culture has mattered and matters now.

Admission is free. Generous funding from Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah, USA), its College of Humanities and the London Centre, and from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship provides for this opportunity. Support also from the Friends of Herculaneum Society.

Program

Roger T. Macfarlane, Brigham Young University
  Introduction and Overview: If Horace had heard a lecture at the Villa of the Papyri, should we care?

Gianluca Del Mastro, Università degli Studi Federico II di Napoli
  Herculaneum Papyri now: updates and perspectives

Richard Janko, University of Michigan
  Herculaneum Papyrology, an intense manifestation of intellectual humanism

Robyn J. Veal, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge
  Provisioning the Roman villa: management of land resources to support urban and country villas

Annalisa Marzano, University of Reading
  The maritime villas of Campania: conspicuous consumption and beyond

Girolamo F. De Simone, University of Oxford / The Apolline Project
  Beyond Pompeii and Herculaneum: life on the "dark side" of Vesuvius

Shelley Hales, University of Bristol
  Why have our forebears cared at all about Herculaneum, and how did they manifest it?

Robert Fowler, University of Bristol / Friends of Herculaneum Society
  Why does an audience of the 21st century need to know anything about Herculaneum?

New (and freely accessible!) contributions on Vesuvian sites

I would like to draw your attention to some new contributions authored by the Apolline Project research group. For those who are not acquainted with this project, it operates since 2004, mostly on the ancient territories of Neapolis and Nola.

Its flagship component is the full excavation and study of the Roman villa with baths in the town of Pollena Trocchia. The main publication of the artefacts found there is now out, others on trade patterns have been submitted a long time ago and will be out soon. A glimpse of what we are up to recently can be seen here.

Since many years though, the project operates on many other sites as well. The Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples, which is one of the hosting institutions, requested some quick reports which recently have been published (unfortunately the composition done there has not been very careful, thus we are providing our error-free versions as well). These contributions include:

- A general report on the dig in Pollena Trocchia, with new data on the burials.
- A preliminary report on a suburban villa of Nola, noticeable especially for the pottery analysis.
- The study of a Medieval church (with Roman spolia) in the Nolan countryside.

We are also making accessible a contribution on the conservation and future planning for the archaeological sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, and the so-called Villa of Augustus in Somma Vesuviana. The articles dates back to 2007, but I think it is still thought-provoking.

For those who are enjoying the British Museum exhibition and are curious about the Dionysiac relief from Herculaneum, my thoughts on that are available in this contribution (towards the end of it).

The complete list of our publications is available here, more frequent updates on what we are up to are on our channels in the social media.

The Apolline Project is an open network, if you want to join, contact us.

N. De Carlo, V. Castaldo, "Roccarainola, località Cammarano: una chiesa altomedievale e i resti di una villa romana",Annali. Università degli Studî Suor Orsola Benincasa 2011-2012: 245-278 [ISSN: 2037-5867] (official version) (error-free version)

M. Lubrano, G. Boemio, S. Sannino, “Note preliminari sulla villa romana di via Saccaccio a Nola”, Annali. Università degli Studi di Napoli Suor Orsola Benincasa 2011-2012: 219-243 [ISSN 2037-5867] (official version) (error-free version)

C.S. Martucci, G. Boemio, G. Trojsi, G.F. De Simone, "Pollena Trocchia (NA), località Masseria De Carolis. L'analisi dei reperti per la ricostruzione del contesto economico e sociale della villa romana", Amoenitas II (2012): 87-117 [ISBN: 978-88-240-1335-2]

G.F. De Simone, M. Lubrano, M. Torino, A. De Luca, A. Perrotta, C. Scarpati, La villa con terme di Pollena Trocchia in località Masseria De Carolis: architettura, abitanti, eruzioni, Annali. Università degli Studî Suor Orsola Benincasa 2011-2012: 195-217 [ISSN: 2037-5867]

Trade and connectivity in Campania - Live stream and open Q&A

Following up the previous post on Apolline Project's talk "From Neapolis’ harbour to the Apennines: coast-hinterland dynamics in AD 472 Campania" (TODAY at 10:30 CET), we like to inform you that the conference will be broadcasted online, live from Amsterdam, at the following address:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/npapconnect
Please note that the Q&A session will be open to questions from the internet as well!

Against the idealised views of Pompeii and the trade patterns from the coast to the Apennines

For those who live in the Northern European countries and are interested in either the relationship between mankind and volcanoes or the trade patterns in ancient Campania, the next few days provide some occasions to discuss these subjects with other archaeologists (and to meet some members of the Apolline Project too).

The next two days (14-15 January) the Aarhus University in Denmark will host the conference titled:
Past Vulnerability: Volcanic Eruptions and human vulnerability in traditional societies past and present.
This conference is part of the LaPaDiS project - Laboratory for past disaster science. The full program is available here and it includes the following paper on Vesuvius:

Girolamo F. De Simone, The fragile landscape of Vesuvius: against the idealized views of Pompeii

Pompeii is generally reckoned as the ideal example of a mid-rank Roman city in the first century AD. In fact, the volcanic ashes that buried the town provide a sharp terminus ante quem, which is used to create pinpoint history. Nevertheless, the clear snapshot provided by Vesuvius generated the assumption according to which, eruptions apart, the landscape was static and acted as a sort of canvas for human activities.
This paper provides some insights into the innate fragility of Vesuvius and discusses how people reacted to the “minor catastrophes” which frequently occurred in the environs of the volcano. In particular, the paper discusses the effects of earthquakes, bradyseism, landslides, flash-floods to settlements and the human response to them, like the reconstruction and reinforcement of buildings.
In the last part, the paper will describe and discuss the issue of resettlement around Vesuvius after the AD 79 eruption, in particular the role of the cities in resettling the countryside and the social change that occurred.

Just a couple of weeks later (1-3 February), another conference will take place in Amsterdam, with the title: Island, Mainland, Coastland & Hinterland: ceramic perspectives on connectivity in the ancient Mediterranean. This meeting is part of the NPAP Project, New Perspectives on Ancient Pottery. The full program is available here and it includes the following paper:


Girolamo F. De Simone & Caterina Serena Martucci, From Neapolis’ harbour to the Apennines: coast-hinterland dynamics in AD 472 Campania

Beyond Pompeii and Herculaneum, life continued on the slopes of Vesuvius, until another eruption stroke in AD 472.  Similarly to the Pompeian eruption, the later one offers a sharp chronological marker and a vivid snapshot of the trade patterns around the volcano.
At that time, important transformations were taking place in the economy of the Mediterranean basin. Despite the Vandal conquest, the commercial network from northern Africa was still in place, but regional productions became more relevant. In Campania, most of the micro-regional products seem to be related to several workshops scattered in the Vesuvian countryside, while others might be compared with vessels attested in the Apennines. For each class, this paper provides fabrics’ visual and archaeometric characteristics, typology, and distribution.
Archaeometric analyses, matched with quantification studies, suggest new patterns of trade, which move beyond the traditional coast-hinterland economic model. In particular, overseas goods were traded following a hierarchical pattern that marginalised small centres, while local products hint to tight connectivity and preference for particular shapes, which were not attested in the cities. A third route linked the Apennines with the Vesuvian plain and shows interdependency between the two areas.
These distributional routes are mirrored by different cultural areas: among these the most relevant one is that on the slopes of Vesuvius, because it shows overall similarities with the city, but also the presence of both peculiar shapes not attested in Neapolis, and shapes peculiar of the Apennines.

So- called Villa of Augustus - Updates and Open Days

To celebrate the results of this year's fieldwork and share the new discoveries with the general public, the so-called Villa of Augustus will be open this weekend (6-7 Oct, 9am-5pm).
Since 2002, this annual event has constantly increased in importance among the locals and last year roughly 3,000 people visited the site in just two days.

The most interesting discovery of the year is probably the presence of ploughing furrows and footprints of animals which were escaping the eruption in AD 472.

If you are unfamiliar with the site, you can find a brief introduction (in Italian) here.
If you want to visit the site, you can its localisation here.
If you are curious about the local legends about the site, we collected them in this page.

RCRF - Pots under the (Sicilian) volcano

Next week will be a pretty intense one for Roman pottery specialists, since the 28th biannual Congress of the Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautores will take place in Catania, in the shadow of Mt. Etna.
For those who are not acquainted with this organisation, the RCRF is the largest (and most authoritative) international society specialising in the field of Roman pottery.

This year's congress is titled "From broken pottery to lost identity in Roman times" and it features 47 talks and 91 posters. Among these, quite a few will deal with Roman pottery in Campania; here it is a (hopefully) complete list. Please note that you can read the abstract of Apolline Project's talk (i.e. Martucci-De Simone-D'Italia), here on academia.edu.

J.T. PeÑa, The Pompeii Artifact Life History Project: Conceptual background and first season’s results.

C.S. Martucci - G.F. De Simone - S. D’Italia, Late Antique local productions between Vesuvius and the Apennines.

D. Bernal - D. Cottica - E. GarcÍa-Vargas - L. Toniolo - C.G. RodrÍguez- Santana - C. Acqua - R. Marlasca - J. Vargas - A.M. SÁez, Un contexto excepcional en Pompeya: estudio interdisciplinar de la pila de ánforas de la Bottega del Garum (I, XII, 8). 


Posters:

M. DE FILIPPO, Transport amphorae from Rione Terra, Pozzuoli (Napoli).

R. FEDERICO, Amphorae, broken amphorae and pottery fragments from a Roman villa south of Naples: Stabiae and the romanized territory until the eruption of 79. 

P. ORLANDO, Cooking Ware and Coarse Ware from Rione Terra (Pozzuoli, Naples).

A. RIBERA, Sicilian Amphorae in Pompei.

C. SUGIYAMA - T. MUKAI - M. AOYAGI, The function and use of big mortar in late Roman -the archaeobotanical research in Somma Vesuviana (Italy).

The jazzy side of Vesuvius

The Pomigliano Jazz Festival is the largest annual jazz event in Campania and one of the most renowned in Italy. Most importantly, the Festival is becoming a way to promote heritage and environment in the Neapolitan countryside.

The Festival begins tonight with a concert by Incognito and Mario Biondi at the Roman amphitheatre at Avella and continues with other events at the Medici castle in Ottaviano and at the early Christian churches in Cimitile.
Sharing the same vision of alternative tourism and holistic promotion of cultural heritage, the Apolline Project now partners with the Pomigliano Jazz Festival to promote the archaeological sites on the northern slope of Vesuvius. Next Sunday, tours will depart from Naples to visit the archaeological sites, the side cones of Vesuvius, castles, monasteries, and the rich vineyards.

Amoenitas - Journal on Roman Villas

The second issue of Amoenitas, the journal on Roman Villas published by the Istituto Poligrafico Zecca dello Stato, is finally out. This issue encompasses several articles on Vesuvian villas (click on the pictures below to read the table of contents).
The journal can be bought here, send a message to info@apollineproject.org if you want to receive a copy of Martucci et alii's contribution on the pottery assemblage from the villa with baths of Pollena Trocchia.

Conference on the Ager Nolanus

In the common effort to create stronger connections among the scholars working on the Nolan countryside, next week there will be a two-days conference titled "Territorio e Archeologia - Contributi per lo studio dell'Ager Nolanus". Details are provided in the pictures below (click to enlarge).

Vesuvinum 2012 - ancient and modern wine on the slopes of Vesuvius

Tomorrow, the 5th of September, will start the 5th edition of "Vesuvinum - I Giorni del Lacryma Christi", which is the most important event organised by Vesuvian wine producers.
Significantly, the opening ceremony will take place at the so-called Villa of Augustus in Somma Vesuviana, near the 2nd c. AD Dionysiac frescoes and stuccos and next to the late antique cella vinaria. On Saturday, a small conference on Roman agriculture around Vesuvius will take place at the Medici castle in the town of Ottaviano where also a photography exhibition on the archaeological sites of Somma Vesuviana and Pollena Trocchia is set. On Saturday and Sunday, visitors can book a visit to both archaeological sites.

With this event, we hope to create a stronger connection with wine producers and work together to engage the general public in preserving and promoting this neglected area.

On Dionysos and Vesuvius on this side of the volcano, see this contribution on Academia.edu

Fieldwork opportunity in September

The ApollineProject is a multi-disciplinary research project which seeks to bring to light the hitherto neglected past of the area to the north of  Mt. Vesuvius. The project has several components but major excavation work focuses upon two sites; a well preserved post-79 AD Roman baths at PollenaTrocchia and an early Medieval church at Roccarainola. Those interested in adding to their experience of archaeological fieldwork and post-excavation practice will find our September programme of great interest. It involves two weeks of major excavations at the church at Roccarainola and a further two of lab work at Pollena Trocchia. The programme is ideal for students who may have limited archaeological experience but wish to gain more while working in a range of different environments. Classes will be given on working with pottery finds and there will be plenty of opportunity to work with freshly discovered material. Opportunities to engage with the archaeology of death and burial also exist as the result of a number of finds already made at Roccarainola.

Subsequently, the baths at Pollena give participants the opportunity to study the artefacts of a well preserved and large scale Roman site. What makes this opportunity different is the time-span offered to students (Roman and Medieval) and the chance to work on two very different sites in a single month long programme. However, those wishing to stay only for one of the excavations may do so. The excavations at ‘Rocca’ (the church) takes place from September 3^rd until the 16^th while the work at Pollena (bath-house) take place from the 17^th until the 30^th. Good accommodation is provided (with an internet connection) and included within the price along with all tuition. It should be noted that while food is not included, living costs in the area are very modest.

The deadline for applications is 26^th August 2012, but earlier applications will be considered and processed within two days.

If you wish to know more, you will find additional information on our website along with the application form which is submitted electronically.

http://www.apollineproject.org/dig.html 

New Archaeological and Volcanological Park in San Paolo Belsito (near Nola)

Sorry for the late notice, I've just received and I'm glad to forward the invitation for the opening of the new archaeological and volcanological park in San Paolo Belsito, near Nola.
The event will take place tomorrow, the 3rd of August. Further details are available in the image attached to this message.

Cultural Heritage and Human Development on the Dark Side of Vesuvius

In order to find ways to contribute to the human development of Campania while better caring for the archaeological heritage, the Apolline Project recently hosted Alexander Smithers, a Masters student of Cultural Heritage and International Development currently at the University of East Anglia under the supervision of Dr Akira Matsuda. Research carried out during this visit will form the basis of a management plan intended to further these goals. As the Apolline Project aspires to be as open as possible, we asked him to write a few pages on his findings so far which we have now posted on our website. We have done this in order to stimulate discussion in the area of public archaeology and how it intersects with development issues. We hope that we can start a debate on these pages in response to this, considering the valuable contributions made in this field by many scholars to Blogging Pompeii.

http://www.apollineproject.org/cultural-heritage.html

Apolline Project – Call for participants

For those seeking experience in archaeological fieldwork this summer, the Apolline Project in the Campania region of Italy is now welcoming applications from students of all levels to participate in a major Roman dig. The site of Pollena Trocchia centres on a post-AD 79 bathhouse which seems likely to be part of a larger villa complex. The nearby sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum have made the powers of preservation of volcanic eruptions famous and Pollena Trocchia is another demonstration of this. The various eruptions down the centuries have helped archaeologists piece together a clear chronology; periods of habitation are interrupted by volcanic deposits that are often metres in depth. A diverse range of finds have been excavated and those participants with a special interest in human remains, ceramics, architecture, building materials and paleobotany will likely be well catered for.

The excavation runs from June 11^th to July 27^th and participants must stay for a minimum of two weeks but there is no maximum; you are free to stay for the entire duration of the excavation if you so choose. For American and other non-European participants the fee is 350USD and for British participants 200GBP. Participants from other European countries pay 250EUR. This includes all tuition and accommodation irrespective of your length of stay. The deadline for applications is May 10^th. Further details can be found on our website at http://www.apollineproject.org/dig.html

 

XX Giornata FAI di Primavera - open archaeological sites in Campania

Next weekend (24-25 March), the Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI) will open 670 heritage sites in Italy; this is a great occasion to visit archaeological sites which are usually closed to the public.
A complete list of heritage sites open in Campania for this occasion is available here; among those, the archaeological sites in the province of Napoli are:

CATACOMBE DI SAN GENNARO - Indirizzo: Via Tondo di Capodimonte,13, 80100 Napoli (NA)

Bene fruibile a persone con disabilità fisica

Orario: Sabato 24, ore 10.00 – 17.30

Note orario: Visite guidate con partenza ogni mezz’ora a cura delle guide delle Catacombe di Napoli solo su prenotazione: tel. 081 7443714 – e-mail prenotazioni@catacombedinapoli.it Il percorso è fruibile anche da persone con disabilità fisica: ingresso da Vicoletto San Gennaro dei Poveri, 22

Descrizione: La catacomba di S. Gennaro. tra le prime per ampiezza e valore storico artistico, è nota essenzialmente per gli affreschi della volta risalenti alla fine del II secolo. Composta di due livelli non sovrapposti, gli elementi che maggiormente caratterizzano la catacomba superiore, sono la piccola "cripta dei vescovi", dedicata alla memoria dei primi quattordici vescovi napoletani e la maestosa "basilica maior"; dove è posta la tomba di S. Gennaro.

TEATRO ROMANO DI NEAPOLIS ALL'ANTICAGLIA

(with an amusing promotional video here)

Indirizzo: Via San Paolo, 5, 80100 Napoli (NA)

Orario: Sabato 24 e Domenica 25, ore 9.00 – 13.00

Note orario: Visite guidate solo su prenotazione per posti limitati. Per prenotazioni: tel. 081 7618514 - e-mail: delegazionefai.napoli@fondoambiente.it (dal lunedì al venerdì, ore 10.00 - 13.00). Per motivi di sicurezza non è consentita la visita ai bambini in passeggino e comunque minori di anni 6. Si consiglia di indossare scarpe comode e senza tacco

Descrizione: Il teatro Romano di via dell’Anticaglia, definito erroneamente “neroniano” in base ad un passo di Svetonio, è in realtà una costruzione della tarda età flavia. Il teatro andato completamente sepolto fu identificato soltanto nel XVI durante l’apertura di vico Cinque Santi dai Padri Teatini. Gli scavi hanno messo in luce una ampia parte della cavea semicircolare, i cui gradini erano ricoperti di marmo bianco e costituita da 23 settori radiali dei quali alcuni fungevano da ingresso per il pubblico.

SITO ARCHEOLOGICO DI POLLENA TROCCHIA

Indirizzo: Via Vasca Cozzolino, 80040 Pollena Trocchia (NA)

Orario: Sabato 24 e Domenica 25, ore 10.00 – 18.00

Note orario: Visite guidate a cura dei volontari dell'Apolline Project e dell'Associazione Culturart Onlus

Descrizione: Sito Archeologico

COSIDDETTA VILLA DI AUGUSTO A SOMMA VESUVIANA

Indirizzo: Via Starza della Regina, 80049 Somma Vesuviana (NA)

Orario: Sabato 24 e Domenica 25, ore 9.00 – 13.00 / 15.00 - 17.00

Note orario: Visite guidate con partenza ore 10.00 / 11.00 / 12.00 / 15.00 / 16.00, a cura dei volontari della Pro Loco di Somma Vesuviana

Descrizione: Sito Archeologico

If you are planning to visit the two archaeological sites on the northern slope of Vesuvius, please visit this webpage for detailed directions and the Apolline Project website for additional information and photos of the archaeological sites.

At the archaeological site in Pollena Trocchia, the tour will be led by archaeologists and volcanologists who excavated it; I am also organising special tours led by schoolchildren and areas of the site where restorers, bone specialists, etc. show their modus operandi. Furthermore, the Associazione Culturart Onlus will let visitors create their own pots, in late antique fashion! If you come to Pollena Trocchia, please consider visiting also the primeval small volcanic cones area and the Villa Cappelli (with a fake Roman ruin built by a Neapolitan nobleman two centuries ago); both sites are also included among the sites open for this special occasion.

Two papers on Campanian late antique pottery

I would like to draw your attention on two papers we delivered recently. At the Late Roman Coarse Ware Conference in Thessaloniki, we used new evidence from the excavations in Naples and our sites on the North Slope of Vesuvius and Nola to reconstruct patterns of production and distribution of goods in Late Antiquity.
More recently we delivered another paper on social habits and cultural practices through the study of pottery and faunal remains (Keramos 2011).

ANNOUNCEMENT: cultural heritage sites open this weekend on the North Slope of Vesuvius

To celebrate its bicentennial, this weekend the town of Pollena Trocchia opens its cultural heritage sites to the public. This is a great opportunity to visit the post-79 Roman villa with baths and other sites which might be of particular appeal if you're interested also in Classical Reception and Volcanology. Among the wonders, there are a Roman column base in the local church, an 18th century "Roman ruin" (but with a real Roman altar) in a Neapolitan nobleman's villa, and Vesuvius' small volcanic vents (you can actually enter into one of them!).
Some of this evidence has been published already, but there is more to explore.
I have created a page with directions to the archaeological site (or you can use Google Maps).
If currently you're not in the Bay of Naples, please get in touch with me and I'll arrange a visit for you (it might be nice to see us in action, from the 13th of June to the 15th of July).

Vesuvius' North Slope sites open today (Sunday)!

Sorry for the very late notice. In collaboration with the FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano), today (Sunday the 27th) I'm opening to the public the archaeological sites on the North Slope of Vesuvius, i.e. the post-79 Roman baths at Masseria De Carolis in Pollena Trocchia (see photo below) and the so-called Villa of Augustus in Somma Vesuviana. If you're around Vesuvius, please come. If you're not there yet, but you'd like to visit either or both sites in the next weeks or months, please get in touch with me and I'll open them for you (3395671190). If you want to see us in action, please come during the dig at Pollena, this Summer we'll run from the 13th of June to the 15th of July, with the usual nice mix of Oxford and Italian students.
All the best,

Girolamo Ferdinando De Simone

St. John's College, University of Oxford

North Slope of Vesuvius

I've recently edited a book on the NORTH slope of Vesuvius:

Apolline Project vol. 1. Studies on Vesuvius' North Slope and the Bay of Naples

You can read it for free on Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=O3mDanbZyI8C

or buy it:

http://www.ibs.it/code/9788896055007/apolline-project-ediz.html

I hope you'll enjoy it, if you want to know more about the excavations in Pollena Trocchia and Somma Vesuviana, please ask and I'll be glad to send more notes, articles, and pictures.