Two thousand years ago, Stabiae was the premier seaside resort on the Bay of Naples. Stunning views, with Mount Vesuvius looming in the background, a mild climate, and thermal springs attracted Rome’s imperial family and their most powerful friends to construct vacation homes of staggering opulence.

Through October 22 visitors to the Michael C. Carlos Museum can experience these ancient homes, which were stunningly preserved by the same volcanic eruption that buried Pompeii in AD 79, through the exhibit In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite. The exhibit features 73 frescoes, stuccoes, and household furnishings, including the world-famous fresco Flora, most of which have never left Italy.

The enormous Roman villas of ancient Stabiae are located at the gateway to the Sorrento/Amalfi peninsula, approximately three miles south of Pompeii. There, a string of at least six sea-view mansions were built by the Roman elite for summer residency and political entertaining in the first centuries BC and AD. In the summer months the Bay of Naples became the virtual capital of the Roman Empire.

Caesar, Caesar’s father-in-law, Cicero and the emperors Augustus and Tiberius had villas nearby. Works recovered from five of these villas are included in the exhibition.
After being discovered in 1749 by Charles of Bourbon, king of Naples, the site was eventually reburied and forgotten until a passionate amateur, the principal of a local high school, rediscovered them in the 1950’s.  

The exhibit includes what is probably the single most celebrated wall painting of the ancient world – a depiction of Flora, Roman goddess of flowers, stepping gracefully though a verdant meadow and picking a bouquet.  Also on display is a reconstruction of an entire triclinium (three-couch dining room).

Explanatory panels chart the intriguing history of discovery at Stabiae and provide information on the political significance of the villas, the projection of power and erudition the owners hoped to achieve through their homes and the lifestyle and economics of the era.

The exhibition is the first ambassadorial long term loan of cultural property from Italy to the U.S. Organized by the Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation and the Superintendency of Archaeology of Pompeii, Emory is the first southeastern stop on the exhibit’s 4-year tour.

For more information, visit the Carlos Museum.