Italian archaeologists revealed a “monumental” Roman villa in early January, and its history is haunting.
Located in the Municipality of Bacoli, in the city of Naples, the enormous Roman villa had “the most spectacular accesses to the Miseno beach,” which is pretty much off-limits to modern-day Italians due to waste and brushwood, according to a press release from the city. The age of the villa is believed to be around the 1st century A.D., meaning the residents of this gorgeous home likely had a front-row seat to one of the most violent cataclysms in known history.
In 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius began its famed eruption, destroying the town of Pompeii with a series of pyroclastic flows (superheated ash and debris), and leaving behind the casts of humans caught in its wake. And the residents of this newly-discovered Roman villa had the perfect view of the brutal event.
You can watch this news report, which shows the view from the villa. Even if you don’t speak Italian, the location is jaw-dropping enough to see from context.
Gli ultimi rinvenimenti archeologici, in prossimità di Punta Sarparella a #Bacoli, scoperti durante i lavori del Comune per la valorizzazione dell’area verde di Miseno, nel luogo dove sorgeva una costruzione abusiva.#miseno #bacoli #soprintendenzadinapoli_areamet @MiC_Italia pic.twitter.com/rBu7xKvIab
— Mariano Nuzzo (@MarianoNuzzo) January 14, 2024
“Perhaps this would have been the promontory from which Pliny the Elder, who held the position of Praefectus classis Misenensis, would have seen the eruption of Vesuvius, and then would have set sail for Stabiae, to help the inhabitants of the various coastal cities, threatened from the Vesuvian eruption,” the city wrote in their press release.
But can you imagine standing on your patio, looking out of the bay towards the island of Sicily, drinking your afternoon sangria, and watching as an entire mountain explodes and kills everyone in its path? The moment must have been on par or likely worse than those who watched the Hindenburg blimp disaster.
The villa was home to ten rooms, so who knows how many people may have been there, watching the devastation unfold. (RELATED: Scientists Reveal Ancient Cataclysm That Plunged The World Into Darkness 1,500 Years Ago)
Pompeii’s ruins weren’t rediscovered until 1709, which meant people went almost 1,700 years with zero knowledge of this horrific historical moment. It makes you wonder how many other natural disasters are hiding just beneath our feet.