The villa of the submerged Baia, then identified with the one of the Pisoni's, was already known thanks to aerial pictures, as all the other submerged coastal structures.
The father of the underwater archaeology, the professor Nino Lamboglia, highlighted and located it, at the end of the '60s, at about 150 metres in the south-east, far off from the coast of Punta Epitaffio.

The lateritious half-column (n. 13 of the route) of the porch of the "Villa dei Pisoni" (Pisonis' Villa) Photo by Nicola Severino

In order to have a graphic and topographic survey in detail, we have to wait till the end of the '80s, thanks to a group of volunteers of the Centre of Subaqueous Archaeology of Campania, who located also a leaden Pan-pipe with the seal of Lucio Pisone, which determined the belongings of the plant to the powerful and rich family which conspired against the emperor Nero and, for this reason, the plant passed to imperial domain.

The villa, built at the beginning of the I century A.D., restored during the I and the II century, is expanded around a central court with rectangular plan of about 95 x 65 metres, oriented with the long side towards NW-SE, destined to be a garden, while the whole residential plant which surrounds the court with porches occupies a total surface of 120 x 160 metres.

The villa was provided with landing basins and was protected from the sirocco winds by a series of double line pilae. Like all the other maritime villas of the zone, it had fish-tanks for the fish breeding.

A first tract of the route in the submerged Baia was realized by the Archaeological Superintendence of Naples and Caserta in the most significant part of the villa.
It starts from a first explicative panel (1), placed on a support of cement, and with a guide line, covers the northern front, corresponding to the tract (1-5) of the plan.

Number 6 of the route is near the plant of the Thermae, while n. 7 is near the fountain. The route (7-12) corresponds to the internal apse corridor and the numbers (12-15) correspond to the façade with lateritious half-columns. Number 16 indicates the end of the itinerary.

The descriptive panel n. 13 of the subaqueous route, at the base of the half-column represented above. Photo by Nicola Severino

The maximum depth does not exceed 6 metres, the whole route is about 150 metres long and can be effected in about 40/50 minutes.

It is severely forbidden to clean, dig, remove or draw objects.
Desultory controls are effected by the police and the subaqueous employment of the Superintendence.

It is possible to take pictures provided that they are not for economic purposes.

Nicola SEVERINO