It was December 11, 1905, when the first excavations uncovered the Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus in Boscoreale. Today, one hundred and twenty years later, that residential complex in the Pompeii countryside is once again the focus of an initiative combining conservation, research, and unprecedented institutional coordination. The Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape for the metropolitan area of Naples is conducting new investigations together with the Torre Annunziata prosecutor's office, with the aim of securing a site that has repeatedly been damaged by clandestine excavations in recent decades.
The buildings belong to the Faraone Mennella family, who signed a three-year agreement with the Superintendency to enhance the complex. Identified with certainty through epigraphic inscriptions, the villa was a complex production and residential complex, featuring baths, frescoes, and mosaics of extraordinary craftsmanship. Artifacts now exhibited in major international museums, from the MANN to the Louvre, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Getty Museum in Malibu, originate from here, as well as the famous mosaic depicting marine life preserved in the Boscoreale Antiquarium.
The clandestine excavations have compromised both the context and the stability of the structures. The prosecutor's office has ordered the seizure and closure of the shafts used by grave robbers, creating the conditions for a comprehensive safety and research effort. This has led to the creation of a project funded by the Ministry of Culture, which is revealing new spaces, floor plan data, and information useful for reconstructing the architectural and functional history of the complex. A scenario that only a few months ago seemed unattainable.
Superintendent Paola Ricciardi interprets this phase as a turning point: the villa is no longer just a source of artifacts scattered throughout museums around the world, but a living site, finally rescued from illegality and restored to a shared understanding. This is where the possibility of a future public opening comes into play, envisioned not as an isolated gesture but as part of a territorial plan that encompasses the entire Vesuvian archaeological network.
Prosecutor Nunzio Fragliasso emphasizes the role of the protocol signed with the Superintendency in 2023, which combined judicial investigations and scientific verification. In Boscoreale, as was the case with Civita Giuliana, the goal is to reclaim land from tomb raiders and restore some of the most important Roman villas in the area to public use. International matters also remain open: a request for assistance from the US authorities aims to verify the legitimacy of the presence at the Getty Museum of four frescoed panels from the villa, suspected of being illegally exported.
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