Elevation 165 m (541 ft) Time zone CET (UTC+1) Local time Sunday 6:44 PM Postal code 80049 | Demonym(s) Sommesi Area 30.74 km² Patron saint Januarius | |
 | ||
Frazioni Somma, Mercato Vecchio, Casamale, Rione Trieste, Santa Maria del Pozzo, Starza della Regina, San Sossio Weather 16°C, Wind W at 13 km/h, 63% Humidity | ||
Somma Vesuviana is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy.
Contents
Map of 80049 Somma Vesuviana, Naples, Italy
History
Before the Roman colonisation, the area of today's Somma Vesuviana was probably inhabited by Italic peoples like Samnites and Oscans.
Later it became a vacation place for the rich patricians of Rome, who built magnificent villas in the area.
A villa was discovered in the 1930s in the frazione of Starza della Regina, and interpreted at the time as that of emperor Augustus at Nola where he probably passed his last days of life.
In 2002 excavations on the villa started again which determined that the villa was buried during the eruption of Vesuvius of 472 AD and not 79 AD (like that which buried Pompeii etc.), and so was part of the community that continued after the earlier eruption and recovered better than the territories to the south. Much of the villa has been brought to light with its rich decoration.
Roman Baths in nearby Pollena Trocchia were also discovered in 1988 and subsequently exposed.