27 August

Zanetta Farussi – actress

Venetian performer who gave birth to a legendary womaniser

Zanetta Farussi, the comedy actress who was the mother of the notorious adventurer, Casanova, was born on this day in 1707 in Venice.  At the age of 17, Zanetta had married the actor Gaetano Casanova, who was 10 years older than her.  He had just returned to Venice after several years with a touring theatrical troupe, to take a job at the Teatro San Samuele.  Farussi’s parents opposed the marriage because they considered acting to be a disreputable profession.  But Farussi soon began working at Teatro San Samuele herself and the following year she gave birth to a son, Giacomo, who was to grow up to make the name Casanova synonymous with womanising and philandering.  Giacomo Casanova would later claim that his real father was Michele Grimani, who owned the Teatro San Samuele.  Zanetta and Gaetano accepted a theatrical engagement in London where Farussi gave birth to their second son, Francesco, who became a well-known painter.  They returned to Venice in 1728 and went on to have four more children. The youngest child was born two months after the death of his father.  Read more…

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Lina Poletti - writer and feminist

One of first Italian women to come out as gay

The writer, poet and playwright Lina Poletti, who was one of the first gay Italian women to openly declare their sexuality, was born on this day in 1885 in Ravenna.  Poletti, an active campaigner for the emancipation of women, had relationships with a number of high-profile partners, including the writer Sibilla Aleramo and the actress Eleonora Duse. Her own works included the epic Il poemetto della guerra (The War Poem), many essays and lectures on her literary heroes, including Dante Alghieri, Giovanni Pascoli and Giosuè Carducci, and a number of collections of poetry.  One of four daughters born to Francesco Poletti and his wife Rosina Donati, who ran a business making ceramics, Lina’s birth name was Cordula.  She was said to be a rebellious child, misunderstood by her sisters and something of a loner, often disappearing into the attic of their house in Via Rattazzi, or hiding in the tree house in the garden.  After finishing high school in Ravenna, she enrolled against her family’s wishes at the University of Bologna, where she became acquainted with Pascoli, a fellow student, and wrote a celebrated thesis on the poetry of Carducci.  Read more…

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Titian - giant of Renaissance art

Old master of Venice who set new standards

Tiziano Vecellio, the artist better known as Titian, died in Venice on this day in 1576.  Possibly in his 90s by then - his date of birth has never been established beyond doubt - he is thought to have succumbed to the plague that was sweeping through the city at that time.  Titian is regarded as the greatest painter of 16th century Venice, a giant of the Renaissance held in awe by his contemporaries and seen today as having had a profound influence on the development of painting in Italy and Europe.  The artists of Renaissance Italy clearly owe much to the new standards set by Titian in the use of colour and his penetration of human character.  Beyond Italy, the work of Rubens, Rembrandt and Manet have echoes of Titian.  Titian was enormously versatile, famous for landscapes, portraits, erotic nudes and monumental religious works.  Although it was his fullness of form, the depth of colour and his ability to bring his figures almost to life which he earned his reputation, he was not afraid to experiment with his painting.  Towards the end of his life, some of his works were impressionist in nature, almost abstract.  Read more…

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The 410 Sack of Rome

Invasion that signalled terminal decline of Western Roman Empire

The ancient city of Rome was left in a state of shock and devastation after three days of looting and pillaging by Visigoths under the command of King Alaric came to an end on this day in 410.  An unknown number of citizens had been killed and scores of others had fled into the countryside. Countless women had been raped. Many buildings were damaged and set on fire and Alaric and his hordes made off with vast amounts of Roman treasure.  It was the first time in 800 years that an invading army had successfully breached the walls of the Eternal City and many historians regard the event as the beginning of the end for the Western Roman Empire.  It could have been more devastating still had Alaric, a Christian, been a more cruel leader.  Although he struggled to control his men - historians believe they were an ill-disciplined rabble rather than an organised fighting force - he stopped short of ordering large-scale slaughter of the Roman population, while silver and gold objects they were told had belonged to St Peter were left behind.  It was brought to a swift conclusion because Alaric had other targets he wished to attack.  Read more…

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Alessandro Farnese – Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro

Duke was a brilliant strategist and diplomat

The outstanding military leader, Alessandro Farnese, was born on this day in 1545 in Rome.  As regent of the Netherlands on behalf of Philip II of Spain between 1578 and 1592, Alessandro restored Spanish rule and ensured the continuation of Roman Catholicism there, a great achievement and testimony to his skill as a strategist and diplomat.  However, his brilliant military career gave him no time to rule Parma, Piacenza and Castro when he succeeded to the Dukedom.  Alessandro was the son of Duke Ottavio Farnese of Parma and Margaret, the illegitimate daughter of the King of Spain and Habsburg Emperor, Charles V.  Ottavio, and was the grandson of Pope Paul III, a Farnese who had set up the papal states of Parma, Piacenza and Castro as a duchy in order to award them to his illegitimate son, Pier Luigi. Ottavio became Duke in 1551 after his father, Pier Luigi, was murdered.  Alessandro had a twin brother, Charles, who died after one month. He was sent to live in the court of Philip II as a young child as a guarantee of Ottavio’s loyalty to the Habsburgs. He lived with Philip II first in the Netherlands and then in Madrid.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Casanova, by Ian Kelly

Giacomo Casanova was one of the most beguiling and controversial individuals of his or any age. Braggart or perfect lover? Conman or genius? He made and lost fortunes, founded state lotteries, wrote 42 books and 3,600 pages of memoirs recording the tastes and smells of the years before the French Revolution - as well, of course, as his affairs and sexual encounters with dozens of women and a handful of men. His energy was dazzling.  In Casanova, historian Ian Kelly draws on previously unpublished documents from the Venetian Inquisition, by Casanova, his friends and lovers, which give new insights into his life and world. His research spans 18th-century Europe.  This is the story of a man, but also of the book he wrote about himself. His own memoirs have brought him two centuries of notoriety. They have also changed forever the way we think and write about ourselves - and about sex. At the same time that revolutions - scientific, industrial, political and artistic - remade the world in the 18th century, Casanova created an intimate and exhaustive study of what he saw as the most revolutionary article of all - himself.  The world, and the way we look at ourselves in it, would never be the same again.

Ian Francis Kelly is a Cambridge-born British writer and actor. His works include historical biographies, stage and screenplays. He has acted on Broadway and in the West End and played Hermione Granger’s father in the movie version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1. As well as Casanova, he has written biographies of the 19th century French chef Antonin Careme, the Regency London socialite Beau Brummell, and the 20th century fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. 

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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26 August

Carlo Camillo Di Rudio - soldier

Italian aristocrat who survived Battle of the Little Bighorn

Carlo Camillo Di Rudio, a military officer who became known as Charles Camillus DeRudio and gave 32 years’ service to the United States Army in the late 19th century, was born in Belluno in northern Italy on this day in 1832.  Having arrived in New York City as an immigrant from England in 1860, he served as a volunteer in the American Civil War (1861-65) before joining the Regular Army in 1867 as a 2nd lieutenant in the 2nd Infantry, an appointment which was cancelled when he failed a medical. Undeterred, he was readmitted and joined the 7th Cavalry in 1869, eventually attaining the rank of Major.  He participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in which the US Army suffered a defeat to the combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribesmen. The battle was part of the Great Sioux Wars of 1876, fought for possession of the Black Hills in South Dakota, where gold had been found.  DeRudio was thrown from his horse as the American forces under Major Marcus Reno were driven back across the Little Bighorn River to regroup on the eastern side. He was left stranded on the western side and hid for 36 hours with a private, Thomas O’Neill.  Read more…

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Sant’Alessandro of Bergamo

Annual festival keeps alive the memory of city’s saint

The patron saint of Bergamo, Sant’Alessandro, was martyred on this day in 303 by the Romans for refusing to renounce his Christian faith.  It is believed Alessandro was a devout citizen who had continued to preach in Bergamo, despite having several narrow escapes from would-be Roman executioners, but he was eventually caught and suffered public decapitation.  In Christian legend, Alessandro was a centurion of the Theban Legion, a legion of the Roman army that converted en masse to Christianity, whose existence prompted a crusade against Christianity launched by the Romans in around AD 298.  Alessandro was reputedly held in prison in Milan on two occasions but escaped to Bergamo, where he defiantly refused to go into hiding and instead openly preached, converting many Bergamaschi to his faith.  Of course, he was ultimately taken into custody again by the Romans and beheaded on August 26, 303, on the spot now occupied by the church of Sant' Alessandro in Colonna in Bergamo’s Città Bassa (lower town).  Today is the Festa di Sant'Alessandro.  Read more…

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La Pietà - Michelangelo's masterpiece

Brilliant sculpture commissioned by French Cardinal

Michelangelo Buonarotti agreed the contract to create the sculpture that would come to be regarded as his masterpiece on this day in 1498.  It was made between the artist and Cardinal Jean de Bilhères-Lagraulas, the French ambassador to the Holy See, who wanted a sculpture of the Virgin Mary grieving over the body of Jesus, which was a common theme in religious art in northern Europe at the time.  Michelangelo, who would live until he was almost 89, was just 23 at the time and had been in Rome only a couple of years, but was about to produce a piece of work that astounded his contemporaries and is still seen as one of the finest pieces of sculpture ever crafted.  La Pietà – in English, 'the pity' – was carved from a block of blue and white Carrara marble selected by Michelangelo, a good six feet (183cm) tall by six feet across.  The Cardinal intended it to be his funeral monument. It was eventually placed in a chapel in St Peter’s Basilica.  The work shows the body of Christ, shortly after being taken down from the cross following his crucifixion by the Romans, cradled in the lap of Mary.  It is necessarily out of proportion – Michelangelo makes Mary quite a broad figure to accommodate the body of a man lying across her -  but the detail is exquisite.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by Nathaniel Philbrick

This is the archetypal story of the American West. Whether it is cast as a tale of unmatched bravery in the face of impossible odds or of insane arrogance receiving its rightful comeuppance, Custer's Last Stand continues to captivate the imagination.  Nathaniel Philbrick brilliantly reconstructs the build-up to the Battle of the Little Bighorn through to the final eruption of violence. Two legendary figures dominate the events: George Armstrong Custer and Sitting Bull. Those involved are brought vividly to life, as well as the history, geography and haunting beauty of the Great Plains.  The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Bighorn provides a thrilling account of what happened there - and why - at the end of June 1876, and analyses the characters and contributions of the Plains Indians leader and forefront Union cavalry officer while explaining how the conflict forged a Native American alliance and set the stage for the reservation confinement of major tribal leaders.

Nathaniel Philbrick is an historian and broadcaster whose award-winning books include In the Heart of the Sea, Sea of Glory, Mayflower and The Last Stand.  He lives on Nantucket Island.

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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25 August

NEW - Death of Pliny the Elder

Roman writer was fascinated by nature and geography

The author, philosopher, and naval and army commander who became known as Pliny the Elder died on this day in 79 AD during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Naples in Campania. Pliny had been stationed with the Roman Navy a short distance away at Misenum, on what is now known as the Gulf of Pozzuoli, and had organised a rescue mission after a friend had sent him a message saying that she was stranded at Stabiae. It is thought he died from asphyxiation  caused by the toxic gases coming from the volcano.  Born Gaius Plinius Secundus in either 23 or 24 AD in Como, then called Novum Comum, in Lombardy, Pliny grew up to become a prolific writer, naturalist and philosopher.  He wrote Naturalis Historia - The Natural History - a 37-volume work about the natural world, based on his extensive studies and investigations into nature and geography. He also wrote the 20-volume Bella Germaniae, a history of the German wars, which was used as a source by Roman historians such as Plutarch, Tacitus and Suetonius.  Pliny had some legal education in Rome and became a junior officer in the army at the age of 23.  Read more…

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Ippolito II d’Este – Cardinal

Borgia prince enjoyed the good things in life

Ippolito II d’Este, who became infamous for plundering Hadrian’s Villa to decorate his own home, was born on this day in 1509 in Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.  He was the second son of Lucrezia Borgia and her husband, Duke Alfonso I d’Este and therefore also a grandson of Pope Alexander VI. He was named after his uncle, Ippolito d’Este.  At the age of ten, Ippolito II inherited the archbishopric of Milan from his uncle, the first of a long list of ecclesiastical appointments he was to be given, which provided him with a good income. He was later given benefices in many parts of France from which he was also able to draw revenue and he was created a Cardinal by Pope Paul III before he had reached the age of 30. A lover of luxuries and the finer things in life, Ippolito II had Palazzo San Francesco in Ferrara refurbished for himself. He also had a palace renovated to provide him with a sumptuous residence in Rome.  He became Governor of Tivoli in 1550 and had the Villa d’Este built there to a design by Mannerist architect Pirro Ligorio.  He became interested in the ruins of the Roman villas in Tivoli and carried out archaeological excavations.  Read more…

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Galileo demonstrates potential of telescope

Scientist unveiled new instrument to Doge of Venice

The scientist and inventor Galileo Galilei demonstrated the wonders of the telescope to an audience of Venetian lawmakers on this day in 1609.  The 90th Doge, Leonardo Donato, and other members of the Venetian senate accompanied Galileo to the top of the campanile of St Mark’s Basilica, where each took it in turn to look through the instrument.  The meeting had been arranged by Galileo’s friend, Paolo Sarpi, who was a scientist, lawyer and statesman employed by the Venetian government. The two were both professors at the University of Padua.  Galileo, whose knowledge of the universe led him to be called the ‘father of observational astronomy’, was for many years wrongly credited with the invention of the telescope when in fact the first to apply for a patent for the device was a Dutch eyeglass maker named Hans Lippershey.  However, Galileo’s work using uncertain details of Lippershey’s design certainly took the idea to a different level.  Whereas Lippershey’s device magnified objects by about three times, Galileo eventually produced a telescope with a magnification factor of 30.  The one he demonstrated on August 25, 1609, is thought to have had a factor of about eight or nine.  Read more…

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Saint Patricia of Naples

Patron saint performs a miracle every week

The feast day of Saint Patricia is celebrated every year in Naples on this day.  The saint, who is also sometimes referred to as Patricia of Constantinople, is one of a long list of patron saints of Naples.  She is less well known than San Gennaro, also a patron saint of the city, who attracts crowds to Naples Cathedral three times a year to witness the miracle of a small sample of his blood turning to liquid.  But Saint Patricia’s blood, which is kept in the Church of San Gregorio Armeno, is said to undergo the same miraculous transformation every Tuesday morning as well as on August 25 each year - her feast day - which was believed to be the day she died in 665 AD.  Saint Patricia was a noble woman, who may have been descended from St Constantine the Great.  She was a devout virgin and travelled to Rome to become a nun in order to escape an arranged marriage.  She received the veil – symbolising her acceptance into the monastic community – from Pope Liberius.  When her wealthy father died, she returned to Constantinople and, renouncing any claim to the imperial crown, distributed her wealth among the poor.  Read more…

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Carlo Eduardo Acton – composer and musician

Musical member of the Acton family was born in Naples

Opera composer Carlo Eduardo Acton, who was part of the distinguished Italian-based branch of the Acton family, was born on this day in 1829 in Naples.  Carlo became a concert pianist and is particularly remembered for composing the opera Una cena in convitto. His father, Francis Charles Acton, was the youngest son of General Joseph Acton, and he was also the younger brother of Sir John Acton, the sixth Baronet.  Sir John Acton, Carlo’s uncle, had served as Commander of the naval forces of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Naples while the city was under the rule of King Ferdinand IV. He was the son of Edward Acton, an English physician who had settled in France, and he was the great-grandson of Sir Walter Acton, the second Baronet.  One of Sir John's grandchildren, John Dalberg-Acton (1834-1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an historian, English politician, and writer, also born in Naples. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge from 1895 until his death. He edited the first series of the Cambridge Modern History, served as a Liberal Party MP and is remembered for coining the phrase 'power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely' in a letter to an Anglican bishop.  Read more…

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Alessandro Galilei - architect

Florentine who made mark in Rome

The architect Alessandro Galilei, best known for the colossal Classical façade of the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome, was born on this day in 1691 in Florence.  From the same patrician family as Renaissance polymath Galileo Galilei but not a direct descendant, Galilei’s father was a notary, Giuseppe Maria Galilei. Though his father considered the family to be noble still, their standing had fallen somewhat under Medici rule.  Alessandro studied mathematics and engineering at the prestigious Accademia dei Nobili in Florence, where he was instructed in building techniques and perspective among other things.  As he sought to develop a career, Galilei met John Molesworth, son of the Irish Viscount, Robert Molesworth, who spent three years in Florence as an envoy to the Medici court. Molesworth used his time there to indulge his interests in architecture, art, music, literature and poetry and developed a close friendship with Galilei, whose designs he admired.  He sponsored Galilei to spend time studying in Rome and when his posting in Italy was at an end, invited him to return to London with him.  Read more…

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Vesuvius erupts

Terrible toll of Europe's worst volcanic catastrophe 

Mount Vesuvius erupted on this day in AD 79, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae and causing the deaths of thousands of people.  An eyewitness account of the eruption, in which tons of stones, ash and fumes were ejected from the volcano, has been left behind for posterity by a Roman administrator and poet, Pliny the Younger, who described the event in his letters to the historian Tacitus.  Although there were at least three large eruptions of Vesuvius before AD 79 and there have been many since, the disaster in August AD 79 is considered the most catastrophic volcanic eruption in European history.  Mount Vesuvius had thrown out ash the day before and many people had left the area. But in the early hours of the morning of August 25, pyroclastic flows of hot gas and rock began to sweep down the mountain.  The flows were fast moving and knocked down all the structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the people who had remained. Pliny noted there were also earth tremors and a tsunami in the Bay of Naples.  The remains of about 1500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum (Ercolano) but it is not known what percentage this represents of the overall death toll.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny, by Daisy Dunn

Ash spewed into the sky. All eyes were on Vesuvius. Pliny the Elder sailed towards the phenomenon. A teenage Pliny the Younger waited. His uncle did not come back.  In a dazzling new literary biography, Daisy Dunn introduces Pliny the Younger, the survivor who became a Roman lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, curator of drains, and representative of the Emperor. He was confidant and friend to the great and good, an unparalleled chronicler of the Vesuvius catastrophe, and eyewitness to the terror of Emperor Domitian.  The younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle, admiral of the fleet and author of the Natural History, an extraordinary compendium of knowledge and the world’s first full-length encyclopaedia. The younger Pliny inherited his uncle’s notebooks and carried their pearls of wisdom with him down the years. In The Shadow of Vesuvius breathes vivid life back into the Plinys. Reading from the Natural History and the Younger Pliny’s Letters, Daisy Dunn resurrects the relationship between the two men to expose their beliefs on life, death and the natural world in the first century. Interweaving their work, and positioning the Plinys in relation to the devastating eruption, Dunn’s biography is a celebration of two outstanding minds of the Roman Empire, and their lasting influence on the world thereafter.

Daisy Dunn was born in London in 1987 and read Classics at the University of Oxford, completing a doctorate in Classics and History of Art at University College London. She writes and reviews for many publications, including The Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, and Standpoint, and is editor of Argo, a Greek culture magazine. 

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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Death of Pliny the Elder

Roman writer was fascinated by nature and geography

A 19th century lithograph depicting the death of Pliny
the Elder by the Spanish painter Ricardo Martí Aguiló

The author, philosopher, and naval and army commander who became known as Pliny the Elder died on this day in 79 AD during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Naples in Campania.

Pliny had been stationed with the Roman Navy a short distance away at Misenum, on what is now known as the Gulf of Pozzuoli, and had organised a rescue mission after a friend had sent him a message saying that she was stranded at Stabiae. It is thought he died from asphyxiation  caused by the toxic gases coming from the volcano.

Born Gaius Plinius Secundus in either 23 or 24 AD in Como, then called Novum Comum, in Lombardy, Pliny grew up to become a prolific writer, naturalist and philosopher.

He wrote Naturalis Historia - The Natural History - a 37-volume work about the natural world, based on his extensive studies and investigations into nature and geography. He also wrote the 20-volume Bella Germaniae, a history of the German wars, which was used as a source by Roman historians such as Plutarch, Tacitus and Suetonius.

Pliny had some legal education in Rome and became a junior officer in the army at the age of 23. He was interested in Roman literature and through this made influential literary friends, who helped him advance his career.

Pliny the Elder was a writer and
lawyer as well as a naval officer

Pliny the Elder’s first book was about the use of missiles by cavalry troops, but it has not survived. Some of its contents were revealed in his Naturalis Historia, where he refers to using the movements of the horse to assist the rider when throwing a javelin.

During the reign of Nero, Pliny lived in Rome, where he witnessed the construction of Nero’s Domus Aurea, or Golden House. As well as pleading law cases, Pliny studied and carried on writing. His second published work was The Life of Pomponius Secundus, a distinguished statesman and poet.

After the death of Nero, Vespasian became emperor and put Pliny to work immediately governing various provinces and he spent time in Africa and Spain. He was trusted by Vespasian right up to the emperor’s death, which was a few months before that of Pliny.

Vespasian had appointed Pliny as praefectus classis in the Roman Navy and the writer was in Misenum with the fleet when Vesuvius erupted in August 79 AD and he saw what he at first thought was an unusual cloud formation in the sky. According to the writing of his nephew, Pliny the Younger, he ordered a fleet of galleys to cross the Gulf of Naples to Stabiae to investigate what was happening and try to rescue his friend, Rectina, and any others who were stranded there.

A 15th century copy of Pliny the Elder's
Naturalis Historia printed in Venice

When cinders and pumice began to fall on the vessel, Pliny was advised to turn back, but he vowed to continue, saying, ‘Fortune favours the bold.’ 

After reaching Stabiae, strong winds prevented his party from leaving again. But later, when they did try to leave because they realised that they were in danger, a plume of hot, toxic gases engulfed them. Pliny, who it is thought may have suffered from asthma, probably died from asphyxiation.

Pliny the Elder never married and he had no children. In his will, he adopted his nephew, who later became known as Pliny the Younger, to enable him to inherit his entire estate. 

Pliny the Elder had deliberately reserved some of his writing on Roman history to be published after his death, knowing it to be controversial and that it could have put his life in danger during the reign of Nero. During his lifetime he had tried to stick to writing about safe topics, such as grammar and nature.

His huge work, Naturalis Historia, which was published just before his death, is thought to have been the first ever encyclopaedia, and it is the earliest known encyclopaedia to have survived to this day. It remained an authority on scientific matters until the Middle Ages.

Statues of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger
flank the entrance to the Duomo di Como

Travel tip:

Como, where Pliny the Elder was born, is a city at the foot of Lake Como in Lombardy, which in Roman times was called Novum Comum, so called because it was a new city built on swampland at the southern tip of the lake that had been drained on the orders of Julius Caesar after he had deemed that the settlement be moved from its former location on nearby hills. Today it is a popular tourist destination because of its proximity to the lake and has many attractive churches, gardens, museums, theatres, parks, and palaces to visit. The Villa Olmo, built in neoclassical style there in 1797 by an aristocratic family, has hosted Napoleon, Ugo Foscolo, Prince Metternich, Archduke Franz Ferdinand I and Giuseppe Garibaldi, to name but a few of the eminent people who have stayed there. The 15th century facade of Como's duomo - the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta - has a portal flanked by Renaissance statutes of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger.

The atrium, with some frescoes still intact, at the
well-preserved Villa San Marco in Castellammare

Travel tip:

The town of Stabiae in Campania, where Pliny the Elder met his death, was an ancient city which used to be situated near the modern town of Castellammare di Stabia. Many Roman villas were built in ancient Stabiae because it was a popular seaside resort for wealthy Romans and, although the town was buried under layers of volcanic ash, like nearby Pompei, some of the villas can still be visited today. They are the largest concentration of well-preserved Roman seaside villas known in the world. Built on the northernmost edge of Varano hill, which offers panoramic views of the Gulf of Naples, they include the Villa San Marco, one of the largest villas ever discovered in Campania, measuring over 11,000 square meters. It has an atrium, courtyard with a pool, triclinium with bay views, colonnaded courtyard, kitchen, and two internal gardens, as well as a private bath complex. The walls are decorated with mosaics and frescoes. At the time of the eruption, the Villa San Marco is thought to have been undergoing repairs following an earthquake and was not occupied.

Also on this day: 

79: Vesuvius erupts, destroying Pompeii and other cities

665: The death of Saint Patricia of Naples

1509: The birth of Borgia cardinal Ippolito II d'Este

1609: Galileo demonstrates the potential of telescope

1691: The birth of architect Alessandro Galilei 

1829: The birth of composer Carlo Eduardo Acton

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