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The Seiano Grotto and the Villa of Vedius Pollio These two items appeared separately in the Around Naples Encyclopedia on the dates indicated and have been consolidated here onto a single page. entry Mar. 2003
Seiano Grotto (1)
A most singular bit of construction, however, is the
spectacular Seiano Grotto, an 800-meter tunnel through
the Posillipo hill itself, from the western area of
modern Bagnoli through
to the sea. It was apparently a private tunnel and
allowed easy access to the spectacular clifftop estate
of Vedius Pollio (see entry below). The tunnel was
probably built by Lucius Cocceus
Auctus, the same engineer responsible for the Galleria della Pace,*
a tunnel and important part of the fortifications of
the Roman Imperial Port in
Baia.) Auctus also built the major tunnel that the
Romans used to get to Naples from the West. (Today, that tunnel parallels and
is between the two modern traffic tunnels that go from
Mergellina through the hill to Fuorigrotta. It was in
common use until the completion of the two recent
tunnels, one in the 1880s and the other in the 1920s.)
The Seiano Grotto is high and spacious; it was
ventilated by three air ducts opening on the sea. It
fell into disuse over the centuries, but was later
reopened by the Bourbons
in 1841. Bourbon restoration was extensive and
provides interesting comparison to the original Roman
masonry evident in many places. The Bagnoli entrance
(shown in the photo) has recently been restored and,
on occasion, the tunnel and grounds of the Vedius
Pollio estate may be visited (see item 2, below). *Not "Gallery of Peace," as one might
plausibly translate. The tunnel is apparently named
for one Pietro Pace, a Spanish adventurer and
treasure hunter from the 1500s. entry May 2003
Posillipo (2); Seiano
Grotto (2); Vedius Pollio (villa)
The information in the above entry is essentially correct, but needs some amplification. The name "Seiano" may be a misnomer for this impressive bit of engineering. The tradition that links the construction of the tunnel to the will of Lucius Aelius Sejanus, Tiberius' ambitious right-hand man and would-be successor, is probably wrong. More recent archaeological thought on the matter connects the gallery to Vedius Pollio, the builder of the spectacular villa, itself. The tunnel was a private passage for Pollio so he wouldn't have to take the long way home. Pollio was an ex-slave from Benevento known for his industriousness, ambition, economic wheelings and dealings in North Africa and subsequent great wealth, and cruelty to his own servants. His villa is mentioned in a number of classical references as a worthy rival in luxuriousness to even the fabled villa of Lucullus, a few miles down the coast in what was Neapolis, itself. It was only after Pollio's death that the premises passed to Caesar Augustus, apparently in exchange for a promise by the emperor to honor Pollio's name with a public building in Benevento—a promise that Augustus reneged on. (Who knows why? Maybe Augustus just didn't like Pollio. There is one story that says that Pollio was about to put to death a servant who had just broken a dish. Houseguest Caesar Augustus was so appalled that he bought the servant and his entire family from Pollio and took them with him back to Rome—after ordering that the rest of Pollio's crockery be smashed. Name a building after you? I don't think so.) When Augustus came into possession of the property, the tunnel then became part of the public network of roads that connected the important port of Pozzuoli to Naples, much like its sister tunnel that joined Fuorigrotta to Naples (near what is today the Mergellina train station); it was only then that the premises became an "imperial" villa. There are signs that the estate was still an imperial residence under Hadrian (the early 2nd century) and that the tunnel itself was in use as late as the fall of the empire, itself—the late 5th century. After that, it disappears from history until 1840 when the Bourbons rediscovered the Coroglio entrance to the gallery while doing some road building of their own. The tunnel was sealed in the 1980s and then reopened in the 1990s for the restoration that finished just two years ago. The imperial premises start a hundred yards or so
from the exit of the tunnel up a slope toward the
cliff, itself. They consisted of a residence, temple,
amphitheater (capacity about 2,000), an odeon (a
covered theater), and a nympheum (a shrine), all
spread over a considerable area directly beneath the
height of the cape overlooking the isle of Nisida. One view is to that
cape and the bay of Pozzuoli beyond, including Nisida
and the larger island of Ischia miles away. The
western panorama is toward Naples, Vesuvius, and
Capri. "Breathtaking" doesn't begin to cover it.
It is not clear whether this Roman estate was built
on the site of earlier Greek structures or not. One
interesting item that says "maybe" is the fact that
the rows of seats in the amphitheater are hewn out of
the stone itself—in the manner of Greek
amphitheaters—rather than being freestanding. All of
that remains to be determined as restoration goes
forward. The property, itself, is now partially in
private hands, but restoration continues on that part
of the property that has reverted to the cultural
offices of the state. The plans are ambitious. So far,
the amphitheater has been cleared of rubble and the
small odeon has been restored such that a small public
can enjoy performances of one sort or another during
the summer months overlooking the coast of
Posillipo. (update: April 2009) The entire premises have now
been restored and re-opened as the Parco Pausilypon. (see also: "Old communities
of Posillipo") |
I
finally got the opportunity to take a tour through the
Seiano Grotto. We started at the Coroglio (Bagnoli)
side and traversed the 700-meter tunnel to come out on
the Posillipo side and then walked up and looked at
the Imperial Villa of Pausylipon. 
What
one sees today (photo, above), however, in the way of
remnants of imperial splendor is shabby, indeed—and
this is not just due to the ravages of time. The
residence was rediscovered at about the same time as
the tunnel, and, almost immediately, someone built a
large private villa directly above the main
amphitheater, using much of the original masonry for
construction material. That villa is now abandoned and
totally in ruins, and the adjacent amphitheater shows
the ravages of that original depredation plus another
century and a half of looting. Almost none of the
looted marble and statuary has wound up in proper
museums.