Educational site at Positano's underground domus for restoration of wall paintings kicks off

The ICR educational site for the study and conservation of the wall paintings of the domus ipogea of the Roman Archaeological Museum in Positano will kick off in November. The worksite is made possible by the long-standing collaboration between theCentral Institute for Restoration, the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the provinces of Salerno and Avellino and the Municipality of Positano, and will involve the students of the fourth year of the Percorso Formativo Professionalizzante 1 of the Scuola di Alta Formazione in Matera with their teachers. Since 2006, the collaboration between the Municipality of Positano and the ICR has made it possible to identify the most suitable choices for the conservation of the painted surfaces of the Roman villa.

The worksite is the culmination of an in-depth study conducted by the technical-scientific officers of the Central Institute for Restoration, whose intervention, requested by the Superintendency and supported by the Municipality of Positano, was necessary for the development of effective conservation strategies, which will be carried out during the worksite school.

The underground domus

In July 2018, a portion of the maritime villa from the early Roman imperial age was opened to the public. Rediscovered in 2003 under the monumental complex of the present Church of Santa Maria Assunta, its existence had been known since the mid-18th century. From the archaeological data found during investigations, the residential complex, which was built on several floors and sloped down to the sea with a system of ramps and terraces, was destroyed and abandoned following the Plinian eruption of AD 79.

A portion of the maritime villa equal to about 30 square meters, of one of the dining rooms, has been returned to the public. The two preserved, adjoining walls, the northern and eastern ones, present a masonry structure in opus caementicium, with a reticulated facing, with the surface covered with fresco wall paintings in the fourth Pompeian style (c. 50-79 AD) with tripartite multi-story architecture.

Therestoration work, which will affect the painted surfaces of the Roman Archaeological Museum in Positano, will have a dual character, operational and experimental. Characteristic of the ICR has always been an interest in research focused on the conservation problems of hypogea, and it is in line with this tradition that the intervention in the domus ipogea of Positano fits in.

Pictured are the wall paintings of the Roman domus at the Roman Archaeological Museum in Positano.

Educational site at Positano's underground domus for restoration of wall paintings kicks off

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