In this area we also find an underwater archaeological park becasue in the past, the sea submerged the lower city due to the ground level decrease. This is a vulcanic area and this phenomenon is called bradyseism, a gradual uplift or descent of part of the Earth's surface.
In the in the submerged part of the city one also finds the entire port Julius, the principal Rome 's commercial connection with the east and it is possible to visite trough special boat with underwater windows...moreinfo here Cymba boat. In case you want to see it up close, You will be accompanied by expert divers... more info here Sea Point. But in this page we're going to talk about the archaeological park of the thermal baths of Baiae.
Where are located the archaeological park of Baiae?
The thermal baths of Baiae, the thermal park of the ancient Roman colony, are located on the homonymous hill, in Bacoli city.
ADDRESS: via Sella di Baia, 22– 80070 Bacoli (NA)
OPENING HOURS: 9.00 A.M.
The closing time of the archaeological park of the Terme di Baiae changes every month. Please check the timetable of the Phlegraean Fields Archaeological Park
Closed on Mondays
How to reach the archaeological park of Baia by public transport:
To reach the ancient Roman baths of Baia from Naples by BUS:
in piazza Garibaldi (adjacent to the train central station of Naples) there is also the bus station, please take one of the buses to Torregaveta or Monte di Procida. The stop is Baia. The journey takes about 1 hour.
more info here..
To reach the ancient Roman baths of Baia from Naples by train:
In Montesanto station take the Cumana (towards Torregaveta) then get off at the Fusaro stop. From here the distance to the archaeological park of Baia is about 1 km (20 minutes on foot), but it is also possible waiting the bus in via Vanvitelli (2 minutes walking to reach the bus stop from the Fusaro station). Via Vanvitelli is the road in front of the Bourbon park of the vanvitelliana casina (little house on the lake).
Having behind you the park, the bus stop is the first on the right. Tickets can be purchased into the Illiano Tabacchi shop near the bus stop. From here take the Torregaveta BUS - La Schiana Hospital or the Archebus Flegreo and get off at the archaeological park of the Termal baths of Baiae (ask to the driver, in italian is parco archeologico delle terme di Baia).
To reach the archaeological park of Baiae with car,
please click on the next picture to open navigator
How much does ticket for the archaeological park of Baiae?
TICKET: € 4
REDUCED TICKET: € 2 (citizens of the European Union between 18 and 25 years old)
CIRCUITO FLEGREO TICKET: € 8
CIRCUITO FLEGREO REDUCED TICKET: € 4 (citizens of the European Union between 18 and 25 years old)
Free for under 18 Year old
Reservation required click here
The Circuito Flegreo ticket is valid for two days and allows you to visit:
- the archaeological park of the Terme di Baia
- the Aragonese castle of Baiae (with the archaeological museum of the Phlegraean fields)
- the archaeological excavations of Cuma
- tel: +39 081 804 04 30
The archaeological park of Baiae and its sectors
The ancient Roman baths of Baia are divided into 4 sectors:
- The Ambulatio's Villa (pronounced Ambulazio and from Latin means stroll)
- The Sosandra sector
- The sector of Venus, divided further into 3 parts, the small baths, the baths of Hadrian and the temple of Venus which is located outside the park.
- The sector of Mercury
Outside the archaeological complex we find two other large thermal buildings, the temple of Diana and, as already mentioned above, the temple of Venus
The Ambulatio's villa and the complex of terraces
Ambulatio's Villa, from latin stroll, it's a place of walking, where people loved to walk or read a book and it's the first sector of the archaeological park of thermal baths of Baiae.
You can here immediately notice the technique that the Romans used for masonry buildings: the reticulated work (Opus reticulatum). Wedge-shaped tuff blocks with a square base were used.
The Ambulatio's villa is made up of a series of terraces arranged one on top of the other. Just after the entrance of the archaeological park of thermal baths of Baiae we can see on the right the firsts cisterns and even higher the first terrace.
The second terrace, rather, is located exactley where we are now, after the entrance of the park, where once there was a portico (the cryptoporticum) formed by pillars joined together by arches, but unfortunately now we can see only a small part of it.
Once you reach the stairs and go down a few steps, you will immediately find, on the left, the third terrace of the Ambulatio, now it is a garden with a few benches. At the time there were pillars that supported a roof.
Going down the stairs again we find the fourth terrace of the Ambulatio, made up of a series of rooms. It is thought that this area once was an hotel because all room overlooks the sea.
Further down we find another level, the fifth terrace of the Ambulatio, where there are the remains of two rooms.
Going to the lower level we find the sixth terrace of the Ambulatio (a path with a hedge, that's the border with the garden). This is the last part of the Ambulatio area, after that there is the garden of the archaeological Park of Baiae.
The Sosandra thermal baths
The sector of the Sosandra thermal baths is located right in the center of the entire complex, immediately after the Ambulatio's Villa, so from the cryptoporticum walking through the entire second terrace we arrive at the sector of the Sosandra baths, the Roman goddess protector of men. This area is located between two big flights of stairs that descend towards the lower part of the complex, where the garden is located.
In the upper part one finds two rooms, one of them with its splendid mosaic, unfortunately in a bad state of conservation, and the other room, the Balneum, with various decorations on the walls and ceiling. Here the statue of the goddess Sosandra was found, now on display at the Archaeological Museum of Naples.
The entire structure was built in various phases and even here you can find four terraces one above the other.
Come down a level we find a series of rooms, that's the living area that overlooks the lower level, the Nymphaeum theater with a round tub in the center.
Going further down we find the last level: the Natatio, a large square swimming pool, but it is also thought that it was a garden surrounded by arcades.
The ancienc roman baths of Baiae and the sector of Venus
This sector of the archaeological park of baths of Baia is divided into small spas, baths of Hadrian and outside the archaeological park of Baia there is the temple of Venus.
The sector of small spas
The small thermal baths sector, in the archaeological park of Baia, is located at the top, immediately after the Sosandra thermal baths.
Here one finds the remains of a few thermal rooms dedicated to the Steam baths (in latin is Laconicum), that are warm and lukewarm environments. The ancient Romans were true geniuses of architecture, in those days they were able to channel natural springs of hot whater from the subsoil to reach and heating these environments. In the sector of small thermal baths one also finds a cold area (the frigidarium).
The Temple of Venus and the Hadrian thermal baths
The Baths of Hadrian is located in the sector of Hadrian and Venus and they are exactley located in the lower part, under the small Baths. To reach them you just need to go down the entire flight of stairs between the small thermal baths and the Sosandra sector and once down, you just need to turn right. In this area one also find the temple of Venus but it is located outside the entire archaeological park of the Thermal baths of Baiae, on the other side of the fence.
Here you can admire a beautiful mosaics with a good state of preservation, then next to which there is a small area in the shape of an exedra (semicircular) with 2 columns.
Continuing in this direction we find the remains of other thermal environments, also, at the time, fed by natural springs coming from the subsoil.
In this sector we also find the temple of Venus, a building which has an octagonal shape with eight large windows in the shape of a arch with a large swimming pool inside. But it is located outside the fenced area of the archaeological park, precisely at the entrance to the port of Baiae, it's free but you have to book.
The sector of Mercury
In the ancient thermal baths of Baiae, in the lower part of the complex, but on the opposite side of the baths of Hadrian, passing under brick arches one finds the sector of Mercury. In this area we find a few huge thermal rooms, all in the shape of a dome. It's possible to immediately notice small arches come out from the ground and one time they were the main entrances of these thermal rooms, but why part of these archs are underground? This is stratification effect that, over the centuries, buried the archaeological park of Baiae and the ground level where we walk is much higher than the original one of the past.
In this secrtor of the archaeological park of Baiae one finds the temple of Mercury and the resemblance to the Pantheon in Rome is striking, in fact the shape is that of a dome with 4 windows and the loculus, a hole in the center on the ceiling. It was probably an indoor pool or a frigidarium. The state of conservation is very poor, but the signs of the marble coverings can still be seen on the walls, which probably reached the loculus. Even the signs of the mosaics can still seen on the walls and once reflected the sunlight that came in from the central hole on the celling.
Baiae (Italy), the Temple of Diana
The temple of Diana is located outside the archaeological park and it's very simple to reach it. Just get out of the arcaheological park of Baiae, near the ticket office, and on the right take the stairs down and in a bit the you get temple. In case you are on the port of Baiae, you just need cross the road.
It is thought that the Temple of Diana have been built in the third century. A.D. and during the excavations the temple took the name of the hunting goddess Diana because frescoes depicting some animals were found.
The shape of the temple of Diana is that of an ogival dome, in other words a pointed arch dome.
The thermal building that we see today is only half to what it once was.
This thermal environment was a Roman shroud, also called laconicum and it collected the vapors coming from the ground.
