Dear friends, by now we have lost count of the phases of this cursed pandemic and, wanting to keep a positive approach, we start to search for accessible and interesting sites from all points of view, cultural, landscape and tourism in the most general sense. Saturday 20 June we went to the Vesuvian municipality of Terzigno (NA), where in September 2019 the Territorial Archaeological Museum of Terzigno (MATT) (*) was inaugurated, which collects the finds of three Roman villas destroyed in 79 AD. from the same eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii. The Museum is housed in the building of the old municipal slaughterhouse:
MATT, like all museums, had closed its doors due to COVID-19; in recent days it has reopened with the exhibition Pompeii beyond the walls - the villas of Terzigno in the shadow of Vesuvius, promoted by the Municipal Administration, the Vesuvius National Park and the direction of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. For information on timetables and openings, the site is: https://www.museomatt.it The three Roman villas, named Villa 1, Villa 2 and Villa 6 based on the chronology of the findings, came out during the excavations carried out from 1981 to 2011 in the 500,000 square meters of the Ranieri quarry, after the disposal of the mining activity. The three villas were real production companies, also equipped with a rich and elegant manor sector; the clay pottery, the amphorae, the agricultural tools exhibited in the exhibition come from villas 1 and 2, while the splendid frescoes come from villa 6, which with its 2600 square meters exceeds even the famous Casa del Fauno in Pompeii in size. And then we begin to take a look at the finds. A drip tray:
an antefix:
crockery and various tools:
And now let's move on to the frescoes:
Let's now admire the frescoes in room 13, that is to say the triclinium, reassembled in the museum in order to reproduce the original dimensions of the room:
Child Dionysus astride a goat, supported by a Maenad:
But the highlight of the exhibition is undoubtedly the lararium, found in the kitchen, with the representation of the two lares and the sacrificing Genius and two snakes approaching a plate of offerings:
For lunch we moved to Somma Vesuviana, a few kilometers from Terzigno; the identified restaurant is famous for its cod specialties, but also offers alternative menus: La Lanterna (*): Via Gaetano Aliperta 8, Somma Vesuviana 081 899 1843 lalanternaristorante.it (*) symbol indicating the presence of toilets equipped for the disabled