Nel Fondo Caiazzo there are a series of Roman-era funerary hypogea, equipped along the walls with several rows of niches. In the arcosolium of the third chamber of one of them, part of the usual seat for the meal in honor of the deceased is still visible on site. In the first two rooms, the presence of dry stone walls delimiting burial boxes attests to a reuse in Late Antiquity. Of the group of hypogea, only the two largest feature rich white stucco decoration covering the walls and the vault, despite the cuts made over time to remove the more precious figurative reliefs. The decoration, common to both hypogea, follows the scheme formed by geometric elements, often arranged concentrically around a panel or floating figures. All the larger panels, bordered by a thin ovolo frame, contain a figurative relief, generally inspired by Dionysian themes; one can indeed recognize dancing Maenads among pavilions supported by pseudo-architectural structures and other genre subjects reproducing iconographic types widespread in Roman painting. Other recurring themes in the decoration of both rooms are scenes with winged cupids engaged in hunting or associated with dolphins, aquatic monsters, and other marine creatures. The external part of the funerary shrines, placed at the center of the free walls, must have been supported by columns, of which fragments remain; these too are stuccoed and decorated with vegetal motifs.
Information about the Hypogea of Fondo Caiazzo
Via Nuova Campania
80078 Pozzuoli (Naples)
0815266007
sar-cam.pozzuoli@beniculturali.it
https://sba-na.campaniabeniculturali.it
Source: MIBACT
