Three meters underwater in the Gulf of Naples, archaeologists found a remarkably preserved Roman bathhouse in the submerged ruins of Baiae, the Roman Empire’s most notorious resort. The discovery, in Zone B of the Parco Archeologico Sommerso di Baia, could be the first physical evidence of the villa of Marcus Tullius Cicero, the famous Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher.
First discovered in 2023, the site has now been fully documented and reveals an intact mosaic floor supported by small brick pillars, a component of the suspensura system—an advanced Roman heating system. This ingenious design allowed hot air to flow beneath the floor and through hollow wall tiles (tubuli), creating an evenly heated environment. The complex appears to have functioned as a laconicum, or sauna, which was a typical feature of Roman elite leisure architecture.
Traces of ancient wall paintings are still attached to the interior of the building, showing the richly decorated spaces once inhabited by Rome’s powerful citizens. Ceramic fragments unearthed at the site are being examined, with hopes that they will provide the key to the bathhouse’s construction date, purpose, and reason for its abandonment.
According to classical sources, Cicero had a villa in Baiae, and this would make the thermal complex a possible candidate for identification with his retreat. If confirmed, this would be an unprecedented physical connection to one of Rome’s greatest personalities.
Baiae’s past is as interesting as its architecture. On the northwestern shore of the Gulf of Naples, the city was named after Baius, Ulysses’ helmsman. Since the 2nd century BCE, its warm sulfurous springs, which authors like Livy praised for their healing properties, have tempted the Roman elite. By the 1st century BCE, Baiae was a dazzling playground where characters such as Marius, Lucullus, Julius Caesar, and Augustus indulged in politics and leisure. A palace was built here by Emperor Nero, and Hadrian died among its baths in CE 138.
The decadence of the city became legendary. Roman poet Sextus Propertius once described Baiae as a “vortex of luxury” and a “harbor of vice.” One of its most notorious events was in CE 39, when Emperor Caligula, defying a prophecy, ordered a floating bridge of nearly five kilometers across the gulf to be built and rode across it on horseback.
Baiae fell victim to invasions and, ultimately, the geological instability of the Phlegraean Fields. Volcanic bradyseism gradually sank much of the city beneath the sea between the 16th and 18th centuries. Today, its ruins—statues, streets, and villas—form one of the world’s greatest underwater archaeological parks, which glass-bottom boats and divers explore.
The newly discovered laconicum will undergo careful restoration beginning this fall. Plans include cleaning the mosaic floor, now partially covered in mineral deposits, and conserving surviving wall paintings. Archaeologists believe the combined study of the site’s ceramics, architecture, and decoration could confirm its link to Cicero’s villa—adding yet another chapter to the extraordinary story of Baiae, the city where Rome came to play, to heal, and, sometimes, to lose itself.
The newly excavated laconicum will be painstakingly restored this fall. Plans include cleaning the mosaic floor, partially covered in mineral deposits today, and conserving surviving wall paintings. Archaeologists believe the study of the ceramics, architecture, and decoration of the site could confirm its link to Cicero’s villa.
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Nice
I enjoyed seeing the Roman baths and anything pertaining to how they lived