POMPEII

The political unification of the Italian peninsula continued with the annexation of additional territories at the end of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.  Italy kept its monarchy, along with its parliamentary government, until 1946.  Work at Pompeii after the turn of the century continued under two strong leaders: Vittorio Spinazzola, from 1911 until 1923 followed by Amedeo Maiuri between 1924 and 1961.

Spinazzola transferred the focus of the explorations in Pompeii from the north of the city to the areas between via Stabiana and the amphitheater, which was called the “Nuovi Scavi”.  He planned and supervised the excavation, reconstruction and recording of eighteen insulae along via dell’Abbondanza as well as portions of Regio I and Regio II.  Unfortunately, Spinazzola’s tenure was cut short.  After WWI, Spinazzola became critical of the Fascist regime lead by Benito Mussolini.  He was removed from his post in 1923.  Spinazzola’s completed publication documenting his work was destroyed soon after his death in 1943, when allied aircraft bombed the printing company in Milan that was producing his books.   The three-volume work, edited by his son-in-law and noted archaeologist Salvatore Aurigemma, was posthumously published in 1953 as Pompei alla luce degli Scavi Nuovi di Via via dell’Abbondanza (anni 1910-1923).

Amedeo Maiuri replaced Spinazzola as the Superintendent of Archeological Works at Pompeii in 1924.  Mussolini, who had become Prime Minister in 1922, saw the excavations as evidence of Italy’s historical eminence and future destiny.  Ample funding was therefore made available.  Maiuri used these resources and his own skills to direct systematic explorations in a variety of areas both in Pompeii and around the Bay of Naples.  Among these locations are:

• The last section of via dell’Abbondanza, which connected the forum to the Sarno Gate
• The insulae adjacent to via dell’Abbondanza in Regio I and Regio II
• Grand Palestra
• The city walls around Pompeii
• The southern facades of Regio VII
• Nucerian Gate and necropolis
• Villa of the Mysteries
• Projects at Stabia, Cumae, Capri, Baia
• Major excavations at Herculaneum

During WWII he and his staff worked to protect the antiquities, and after the war Maiuri supervised the reconstruction of structures in Pompeii that had been damaged by allied bombing in 1943. Amedeo Maiuri was the steward of one of the most productive eras of Pompeian archaeology.

The Directors of the Pompeii excavations and museum during this period were[1]:

• 1893 to 1901 - Giulio de Petra, Director of Archeological Works
• 1901 to 1905 - Ettore Pais, Director of Archeological Works and Curator of the Museum
• 1905 to 1910 - Antonio Sogliano, Director of Archeological Works
• 1906 to 1910 - Giulio de Petra, Director of Archeological Works
• 1911 to 1923 - Vittorio Spinazzola, Superintendent of Archeological Works
• 1924 to 1961- Amedeo Maiuri, Superintendent of Archeological Works

The following documents have been located that indicate the chronology of the excavation of via dell’Abbondanza during this period:

1900 - Map of the excavated portion of Pompeii

By:  August Mau (1849-1909)

Source: Printed book - Pompeji in Leben und Kunst

Publication Date:  1900

Location: Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston

Copyright:  Expired

This map is similar to one that was published in the English language translation in 1899, but reflects additional exploration along via Nola.  It also shows that about 10 meters of via dell’Abbondanza had been excavated to the east of Insula I, 4.

Via dell’Abbondanza is shown with the name Strada dell’Abbondanza.

1911 - Page from the Giornale degli scavi di Pompei

By:  Matteo Della Corte (1875-1962)

Source:  Original documents, 1911 volume, page 241

Location:  Archives of the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei

Copyright:  Permission to display the image of this original document has been granted by the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività  Culturali – Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei.  This image may NOT be copied or reproduced in any manner.

 

The Giornale degli scavi di Pompei are the original handwritten documents that summarize the excavation activities by year.  They are contained in large ledger books and stored in a small room adjacent to the Pompeii Director’s office.  This is the first page of the November 1911 monthly report, written in the hand of Matteo Della Corte, the famous Italian epigraphist and archaeologist.

In this report, Della Corte recounts that the excavations that were being carried out at the House of the Count of Turin (Casa di Obellio Firmo) on via Nola were completed in September 1911.  The newly appointed Director Professor Spinazzola wanted to start excavation tests on one of the longest roads in Pompeii (via dell’Abbondanza), which were successful from the beginning.  “The systematic excavations…happened to be where two narrow streets, one from the North between Insulae 7 and 11 of Regio IX and the other between Insulae 6 and 7 of Regio I reach the grand street, which is the most interesting and complex compitum [crossroads] we have seen.”  This is the first entry that has been found in the Giornale either mentioning Director Spinazzola or the new excavations on via dell’Abbondanza.

1911 - Page from the Notizie degli scavi di Antichità

By: Accademia nazionale dei Lincei (publisher)

Source: Printed book - Notizie degli scavi di Antichità, Anno 1911, page 417

Publication Date:  1911

Location: Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston

Copyright:  Expired

 

 

 

The Notizie degli scavi di Antichità is a serial publication that summarizes excavation reports by year, month and location.  The November 1911 Giornale degli scavi di Pompei pages (see above) were used as a draft to formulate the November entry for Regio I of Pompei in the Notizie volume.  The printed text is similar to the handwritten Giornale document.  A map was included showing the location on via dell’Abbondanza where the new excavations were started.

1910-1923 - Map of Pompeii showing the excavations in the “Nuovi Scavi”

By: Vittorio Spinazzola (1863-1943), compiled and edited by Salvatore Aurigemma (1885-1964)

Source: Printed book - Pompei alla luce degli scavi nuovi di Via dell'Abbondanza (anni 1910-1923)

Publication Date:  1953

Location: The personal library of Prof. Anne Laidlaw (with great thanks)

Copyright:  Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Rome. This image may NOT be copied or reproduced in any manner.

This map is from the Preface of Volume I of the posthumous publication.  It shows the fronts of the houses and insulae excavated between 1910 and 1923.  Vittorio Spinazzola was appointed Director of the National Museum in Naples in 1910, but did not fill the position of Superintendent of the Archaeological Works in Pompeii until 1911.  The Casa di Obellio Firmo on via Nola (marked “Q” on the map) was under excavation in 1910, and was completed in 1911.  Spinazzola’s major contribution to the rediscovery of Pompeii was the exploration of approximately 400 meters of via dell’Abbondanza between 1911 and 1923. The excavations proceeded from west to east along the street, and utilized new techniques to carefully reconstruct the structures, from the top down, as they were uncovered.  The key of the map lists the major buildings that were uncovered and restored.

Via dell’Abbondanza is shown with the name Strada dell’Abbondanza.

1911-1923 - Excavation photographs of via dell’Abbondanza

By:  Photographers Domenico Losacco De Gioia and Guido Spinazzola are cited in the preface of the Vittorio Spinazzola publication (page XXXI)

Source:  Photographic prints from original glass plate negatives

Location:  Archives of the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei

Copyright:  Permission to display these photographs has been granted by the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività  Culturali – Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei.  These images may NOT be copied or reproduced in any manner.

These photographs are arranged in date order, which reflects the progress of the excavations along via dell’Abbondanza.  Spinazzola and his excavators stabilized and braced the remains of the structures in which they were digging in order to save and restore the upper stories.  Components from the debris of the original buildings were incorporated into the reconstruction as they were found and identified.  The success of this strategy was dramatic, as can be seen by comparing this section of the street with the segment between the forum and via Stabiana uncovered in the nineteenth century.  Although Spinazzola altered the excavation methodology, the work was still accomplished primarily by hand.

1.  1911 – This photograph was most probably taken during the first weeks of the new excavations.  The fountain is in front of the west end of Insula IX, 11, at the crossroads described by Della Corte in the November 1911 entry of the Giornale degli scavi di Pompei.  The archive record card cites the date as 1910, which is not possible, as the “Nuovi Scavi” did not begin until late in 1911 (see: 1911 - Page from the Giornale degli scavi di Pompei above).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  1911 – This shows the unearthed facade of Insula IX, 11.  The excavation spoil is carried by hand up to the “ground level” where it is taken away by horse-drawn rail carts. The archive record card cites the date as 1910, which is not possible, as the “Nuovi Scavi” did not begin until late in 1911 (see: 1911 - Page from the Giornale degli scavi di Pompei above).

 

 

 

 

 

3.  1911 – This is the west end of Insula I, 7 and the entrance to the House of P. Paquius Proculus (I, 7, 1). The archive record card cites the date as 1910, which is not possible, as the “Nuovi Scavi” did not begin until late in 1911 (see: 1911 - Page from the Giornale degli scavi di Pompei above).

 

 

 

 

4.  1911 – A view of the west end of Insula I, 7 (doors 2-5).  The photograph was probably taken from the front of the Casina dell’Aquila, the country house standing on the unexcavated ground level over Insula IX, 7.  The overhanging balconies and second story walls seen here illustrate the technique of preserving the salvageable remains of the buildings from the top.

 

 

 

5.  1912 – These visiting dignitaries are standing in front of the east end of Insula IX, 11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.  1912 – The excavations have progressed to the east as far as Insula IX, 12.  Work also advanced in the opposite direction uncovering Insula IX, 7, which can be identified by the restored overhanging roofs.  The excavations undertaken to the west connected the “Nuovi Scavi” to the section of via dell’Abbondanza between the forum and Insula IX, 1 that had been uncovered in the nineteenth century.

 

 

 

 

 

7.  1912 – This photograph shows the colonnade on the second story of the west end of Insula IX, 12 as it is being excavated.  The ground floor is still partially buried, as is the street.

 

 

 

 

8.  1914 – The restoration of Insula I, 12 is being undertaken, including the impressive overhanging balcony.  The insula number at the time was II, 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

9.  1916 – The workmen are standing on top of the buried remains of the east end of Insula III, 3.  Volcanic material fills what is now known by several names including Casa dei Gladiatori and an armory building (III, 3, 6).

 

 

 

 

 

10.  1917 – The restored small overhanging balcony extends from Insula II, 1.  The insula number at the time was II, 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.  1918 – The restored overhanging balcony is at the west end of Insula III, 5.  The “Nuovi Scavi” explorations were extended only one-half city block further on the north side of the street.  On the south side, all of Insula II, 2 (labeled II, 5 at the time) was unearthed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1936 - Map showing the New Excavations in Pompeii

By: Roger Clifford Carrington (1906-1971)

Source: Printed book - Pompeii

Publication Date:  1936

Location:  Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston

Copyright: Permission to display the image of this map has been granted as a courtesy by the publisher, Oxford University Press (www.oup.com).   This image may NOT be copied or reproduced in any manner without the permission of the publisher.

As indicated on this map, between 1923 and 1936 Amedeo Maiuri extended the excavations along via dell’Abbondanza to the east revealing the facades of two more insulae on the north side of the street (III, 6 and part of III, 7) and two on the south side (II, 6 and II, 7 – current insula numbers II, 3 and II, 4).  Approximately 100 meters of the street remained unexcavated.

Via dell’Abbondanza is shown with the name Strada dell’Abbondanza.

1940 - Postcard of Insulae IX, 7 and IX, 11

By: Unknown

Source: Italian picture postcard

Publication Date:  ca. 1940

Location: Personal collection

Copyright: Uncertain.  Neither the photographer nor the publisher can be discerned from the card.  If the original copyright holder objects to the display of this postcard, please notify the authors and it will be immediately removed. This image may NOT be copied or reproduced until the copyright status is determined.

This postcard shows Insula IX, 7 in the foreground and IX, 11 in the background.  The fountain in the picture is at the crossroads that was first excavated by Spinazzola when the “Nuovi Scavi” was started in November of 1911.

On the back of the postcard, the street is named the Rue de Marcus Olconius [Holconius].  The only other reference to this particular street designation that has been located is on an 1861 map in the book Les ruines de Pompéi by Stanislas D’Aloe.  The House of Marcus Holconius Rufus is on via dell’Abbondanza in the first block west of via Stabiana, as well as a marble pedestal that held his statue (now in the archaeological museum in Naples).

1943 - Map of WWII allied bomb damage on via dell’Abbondanza

By: Vittorio Spinazzola (1863-1943), compiled and edited by Salvatore Aurigemma (1885-1964)

Source: Printed book - Pompei alla luce degli scavi nuovi di Via dell'Abbondanza (anni 1910-1923)

Publication Date:  1953

Location:  The personal library of Prof. Anne Laidlaw (with great thanks)

Copyright: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Rome.   This image may NOT be copied or reproduced in any manner.

This plan of via dell’Abbondanza accompanies a discussion that is located in the preface of the publication about the bombing of Pompeii during the Second World War.  An Italian newspaper reported that the allies dropped thirty bombs on August 24, 1943.  Maiuri later wrote that over 150 bombs fell on the city, the majority between 13 and 26 September.  Although not strictly related to the chronology of the excavation of the street, the map indicates that a significant number of bombs fell on via dell’Abbondanza, thereby altering the appearance of a number of the structures.

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