Museo Archeologico Romano Santa Maria Assunta
Archaeological museum beneath the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Positano, with the remains of a Roman leisure villa and frescoes in the Fourth Pompeian Style.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
At the end of the 1st century BC, in the ravine where Positano stands today, there was a luxurious leisure villa, similar to the residences of the Roman elite along the Campanian coast. As early as 1758 Karl Weber, a member of the Bourbon excavation staff, reported structures with frescoes and mosaics beneath the mother church and the bell tower. Matteo Della Corte suggested that the villa belonged to Posides, a powerful freedman of the emperor Claudius, from whom the name of the town may derive.
After the earthquake of AD 62 the villa was renovated with new reception rooms, among them a triclinium decorated in the Fourth Pompeian Style, now visible in the crypt. The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 damaged it irreparably: mud and pumice filled the rooms and brought down roofs and floors.
The site reopened to the public on 1 June 2021, after excavation and restoration carried out together with the Soprintendenza di Salerno e Avellino (heritage authority of Salerno and Avellino). The route includes the triclinium with its frescoes, an upper medieval crypt, the Roman finds recovered during the investigations and multimedia displays for reading the details of the paintings.
Highlights
- Triclinium with Roman frescoes in the Fourth Pompeian Style
- Upper medieval crypt
- Cast in mud of a wooden door and metal objects melted by the AD 79 eruption
- Multimedia teaching displays
Permanent exhibition
- Villa romana sotto la chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta – Triclinium with Fourth Pompeian Style frescoes, medieval crypt and Roman finds from the seaside villa destroyed by the AD 79 eruption.
- Founded
- 2021
- Visitors per year
- approx. 10,000
Admission & discounts
| Adults | €15 |
|---|
Single rate of €15 per person, with payment by Visa and Mastercard. Tickets are bought online on the museum's website.
Accessibility
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Kids & families
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Getting there & parking
By public transit
By train on the Circumvesuviana from Napoli Centrale to Sorrento, then by SITA bus to Positano. From Salerno, SITA bus to Amalfi with a connection to Positano, or ferry from Piazza Concordia.
By car from the north: the A1 motorway towards Naples, then the A3 towards Salerno, exiting at Castellammare di Stabia, the SS145 as far as Meta di Sorrento and signs for Positano; from the south, the A3 Salerno–Reggio Calabria, exiting at Vietri sul Mare. For parking and walking routes, the site refers to its information service.
Get directionsAmenities & dining
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Events & venue rental
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Plan your visit
| Guided tours | yes |
|---|---|
| Good to know | The visit takes place as a tour with a maximum of 7 people per group. Information and bookings by telephone or WhatsApp to the museum's number, and by e-mail. |
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MUDISS – Museo diocesano sorrentino-stabiese
Scavi archeologici di Stabia – Villa Arianna e Villa San Marco
