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Baia trip planner
Loads of Roman ruins—both around town and underwater—and the best little museum in the Campi Flegrei
Largo Matteotti 1A, Pozzuoli
tel. +39-081-526-6639
www.infocampiflegrei.it
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The ruins at Baia are right downtownAll that volcanic activity around Pozzuoli and Solfatara sounds ominous, but it also makes for some great hot springs, lots of picturesque small lakes that gather in extinct craters, and remarkably fertile soil.
Such attractions contributed to the Phlegrean Fields becoming prime real estate during the ancient empire, the area where Emperors and other Roman bigwigs built their summer palaces.
Baia, named after Odysseus' navigator, was the Hamptons, Beverly Hills, or perhaps Palm Springs of the ancient world, the place where Caligula built a pleasure villa, Nero murdered his mother Agrippina, Cicero retreated to collect his oratorical thoughts and to entertain Caesar during Saturnalia feasts, and Hadrian passed away in AD 138.
Today Baia's a pleasant little town with several good archaeological sites and a museum of ancient statues in the late medieval castle.
The underwater park
A statue under the bay forms park of Baia's underwater archeological parkMuch of the ancient port is, due to earthquakes and bradyism, actually under the shallow waters of the bay just offshore.
This is now part of the Parco Sommerso di Baia Area Marina Protetta (Submerged Park of the Protected Baia Marina Area). For years these ruins were the provence of only a few intrepid archaeologists, but now tourists can visit the park to see some of its eerily preserved underwater mosaics, statues and Roman ruins.
You can visit the park in several ways: in a glass-bottomed boat, in a "Videobarca" (you ride out in a Zodiac-like rubber boat and a professional in scuba gear takes down a video camera to beam live images of what's below you back up to the boat), by snorkel, or even by scuba; for more info: tel. +39-081-868-8923, www.areamarinaprotettabaia.it.
The Archeological Park and other ruins around town
The Terme di Baia, part of the baths complex amid the ruins of the Archeological Park in BaiaOther, more easily accessible ruins are scattered around town on dry land. There's even part of a baths complex just behind the train station erroneously called the Tempio di Diana.
The bulk of the remains are gathered together in the Archaeological Park (tel. +39-081-868-7592), a slope of terraced ruins whose crumbling brick walls and remnants of halls, domed roofs, and archways recall the rich series of temples, baths, and shops that filled the ancient Roman city from the AD 1st to 4th centuries.
The Baia archeological park is open Tuesday to Sunday 9am to an hour before sunset.
The Castello di Baia museum
The 16th century castle of Baia.At the edge of town, above the sea on the road toward Capo Misensio, rises the imposing 16th-century Castello di Baia.
Since 1993 it has been home to the Museo Archeologico dei Campi Flegrei (tel. +39-081-523-3797), with statuary and other finds from Baia and nearby excavations, including Roman-era plaster casts of Greek statues that were used as models for sculptors.
It's open Tuesday to Sunday 9am to one hour before sunset (Adm).
Tips
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How to get to Baia: Take the the Cumana suburban rail line from Pozzuoli or the SEPSA bus from Cuma (tel. +39-081-551-3328, www.sepsa.it).
For tickets, you can get a Unico Napoli ticket for €3.10 that lasts all day and covers pretty much all of this region—or get the Artecard sightseeing pass, detailed below. (
on getting around Campi Flegrei.)
- Get the Campania Artecard: There are two versions of the Campania sightseeing pass that covers this area: Napoli e Campi Flegrei (€16 for three days; 3 sights free, the rest half-off; and all public transport) and Archeologia del Golfo (€30 for 3 days; all sights—including all the ones here [except Solfatara], plus Pompeii, Herculaneum, the Naples Archaeological Museum, and more; and all public transport). Since the sights of the Campi Flegrei are all covered on a single, €4 ticket (again, except privately-run Solfatara), if you get that first pass I'd actually use the 3 freebies for pricier marquee sights in Naples—but you still get 50% off your Phlegrean Fields ticket, plus that invaluable free bus/Metro pass. For details: www.campaniartecard.it.
- Tourist info:The closest tourist office is in Pozzuoli at Largo Matteotti 1A (tel. +39-081-526-6639; www.infocampiflegrei.it). Their administrative office is at Via Campi Flegrei 3 (tel. +39-081-526-1481). Most of the basics on open hours, admission, etc. are also covered on the Campania Artecard site (www.campaniartecard.it). Also hit the regional information site for Campania: www.incampania.com.
Related pages
- The sights and towns of the Campi Flegrei: Pozzuoli, Solfatara, Baia, Cuma, Lake Avernus
- Getting to and around the Campi Flegrei
- Public transportation in the Naples Bay area
- Other Naples sidetrips
- Naples homepage
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This material was last updated August 2010. All information was accurate at the time.
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