phlegraean.html

The area north-west of Naples known as "The Phlegraean Fields" is one of the most fascinating in Southern Italy owing to its various and pleasant landscapes and to the numerous now extinct craters.
This very fertile and sunny land, with a mild climate and natural, sheltered ports, was inhabited by primitive and mythical people.
Its name is derived from a Greek word meaning "burning" and is justified by the volcanic activity which deeply struck the first Greek sailors


"NULLUS IN ORBE SINUS BAIIS PRAELUCET AMOENIS" "NO BAY IN THE WORLD SHINES MORE THAN DELIGHTFUL BAIA" That's what Orazio, the great poet, would like to write about Baia in the first century A.D. and at distance of millennia "the Phlegraean Fields" keep their splendor unchanged. BAIA was for the Romans what Capri and Montecarlo is for us today. It was the site of the Imperial Palace and had famous Baths and beatiful Villas and was a synonimous with idleness and amusement, culture and politics, love.

Present day BACOLI lays claim to this ancient site. Its splendid, ancient and modern monuments, include: the Mirable Swimming Pool, the Cento Camerelle, the Castle of Baia and the Small Vanvitellian Palace of Fusaro. MISENO was the most important military port of CUMA and was the base of the mighty Imperial Roman Fleet. Its most important monuments: the Sacellium of the Augustali, the Baths, the Dragonara and the Theatre.

CUMA was founded by the Eubean colonists in the VIII century B.C. and was the first "polis" of the Western World. It was rich and powerful and gave the " West chalcidice-cuman alfabet" which was later called "latin" Arriving to POZZUOLI by the sea is an experience full of emotion and charm. First under the Greek and then the Romans, it was the main commercial port of the Roman Empire. The Temple of Serapide, l'Amphitheatre of Flavius, the Capitolium and the Necropolis are extraordinary monuments illustring the glory of Pozzuoli.
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