Il Museo Archeologico di Stabia

The Archaeological Museum of Stabia Libero D’Orsi

Il Museo Archeologico di Stabia

From 24 September 2020, the historic rooms of the Quisisana Palace will host the Archaeological Museum of Castellammare di Stabia. New museum space dedicated to the exhibition of numerous and prestigious finds from the Stabian territory.

The Archaeological Museum of Stabia contains unique finds in Italy, a heritage of art and culture to visit and admire. Numerous finds on display never exhibited before.

Come and discover this new museum rich in history and culture overlooking the Gulf of Naples. The Museum can be easily reached from our holiday home with urban lines in about 15 minutes.

The operation, managed and promoted by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, returns the oldest royal Bourbon site (a symbolic building that boasts a history of over seven centuries) to the Italian heritage.

Together with precious testimonies of daily life, in particular that which took place in the Roman villas of otium (luxurious residences aimed at rest, of body and spirit, from activities and business) and in rustic villas (similar in conception to modern farms ), located in a panoramic position with a “view” of the Gulf of Naples.

Stabia Archaeological Museum

The Archaeological Museum of Stabia is named after Libero D’Orsi (1888-1977) president who, in the 1950s, undertook the rediscovery of the Stabian Villas, already partially investigated in the Bourbon period.

Numerous finds on display, some never exhibited before in Italy. Among frescoes, floors in opus sectile, stuccos, sculptures, terracotta, tableware, bronze and iron objects.

Partly already housed in the Stabian Antiquarium, set up in the city center by Libero d’Orsi and closed to the public since 1997.

The museum’s exhibition itinerary, whose scientific project is curated by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, aims to offer an overall picture of Stabiae and Ager Stabianus from the Archaic age to the eruption of 79 AD.

The first rooms are dedicated to the history of the Quisisana Palace and archaeological research. With particular attention to the Bourbon excavations and those of Libero D’Orsi.

It continues with pre-Roman Stabiae, illustrated by votive materials from the sanctuary in Privati ​​(mid-4th-late 2nd century BC). Referable to the cult of a female divinity, and from funerary objects from the archaic necropolis of Via Madonna delle Grazie. (From the second half of the VII century BC to the end of the III century BC).

The Archaeological Museum of Stabia

The Roman period, up to 79 AD, is instead reconstructed through a chronological and topographical exhibition criterion, with some thematic insights.

In the area of ​​today’s Castellammare di Stabia (Stabiae) there were numerous otium villas in a panoramic position in Roman times. Conceived mainly for residential purposes, with large living quarters, spa facilities, arcades and beautifully decorated nymphaeums.

The path of this historical phase begins with the famous villas built on the Varano plateau. Of which the extraordinary decorative elements are presented (in particular frescoes and sculptures): from Villa San Marco to Villa del Pastore, from the Second Complex to Villa Arianna.

Walls and rooms of the Archaeological Museum of Stabia

The choice to start with Villa San Marco, which with an area of ​​11,000 square meters. was one of the largest residential villas in Stabiae, it is also motivated by its contiguity with the ancient urban center and in fact lends itself to illustrating Pliny’s passage on the destruction of Stabiae by Silla in 89 BC.

After the part dedicated to the Varano plateau, there is the villa of Petraro (municipality of Santa Maria la Carità). An important complex that has restored stucco decorations from luxurious spas, and that of Carmiano (municipality of Gragnano), the heart of the permanent exhibition.

The Archaeological Museum of Stabia contains unique finds in Italy, a heritage of art and culture to visit and admire. Numerous finds on display never exhibited before.

The villa of Carmiano is one of the approximately 50 rustic villas of the Ager Stabianus, an area with numerous small properties (rustic villas extending between 400 and 800 square meters) suitable for the cultivation of vines and olives.

In this section, a thematic study dedicated to food introduces the visitor to the exhibition of Carmiano’s triclinium.

The theme of food, its preparation and consumption, is illustrated by tableware. In bronze, terracotta and glass, kitchenware and amphorae, which offer an insight into an important moment in everyday life. Which was that of conviviality.

From the villa of Carmiano comes a triclinium (banquet hall) whose frescoed walls are entirely re-proposed at the center of the path. With Dionysian-themed paintings that recall the production of wine, the main activity carried out in the rooms of the rustic part of the residence.

The extraordinary bronze chariot of Villa Arianna exhibited for the first time.

The bronze chariot of Villa Arianna, exhibited for the first time with its harnesses, is the starting point for deepening the knowledge on agricultural works and typical productions of the Stabia area.

A rich collection of tools returned from the villas (together with amphorae and larari from rustic environments) closes the exhibition itinerary. With the theme of the productive activities that made the villas of the Stabiana area prosperous, and Vesuvius in general.

Walls and rooms of the Archaeological Museum

With the opening of the Archaeological Museum of Stabia, a new museum space is returned to citizens and tourists, of fundamental value for the knowledge and enhancement of Campania’s archaeological heritage.

A museum that will integrate the cultural offer and the archaeological circuit of ancient Stabiae, networked with the visitable sites of Villa San Marco and Villa Arianna.

An extension of the exhibition itinerary has also been planned. Within which it will be possible to visit, after many decades, the decoration of the ramp that connects the lower peristyle with the upper one of Villa San Marco. Which will be rebuilt to allow use by the public.


Timetables

summer: 9.00 – 19.00 (last admission 18.00) winter: 9.00 – 17.00 (last admission 16.00).

Tickets

Full: € 6.00 (+ € 1.50 on online presale) – reduced: € 2.00 (+ € 1.50 on online presale) – Free as per regulations. The entrance ticket can be purchased on the Ticketone website, the only authorized online retailer.

Weekly closing: Tuesday

How to get

Train: Circumvesuviana Naples-Sorrento (Castellammare di Stabia stop), head towards Piazza Giovanni XXIII + Line 5 (Salita Quisisana stop)

Car: A3 Napoli-Salerno motorway (Castellammare di Stabia exit). Take the SS145 for 8.5 km (second exit of Castellammare di Stabia), go straight on on viale Europa, viale delle Puglie and via Panoramica. Turn left on viale Ippocastani (Quisisana climb).

Book now Stabia Holiday House, your holiday home to comfortably visit our new archaeological museum and the many attractions of our area.


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