Posillipo is the headland of uncommon beauty that closes on the west the city of Naples and divides the bay in front of Naples from that one of Pozzuoli. Its yellow tufa walls rise steep from the sea but it slopes down gradually to the city, so that it offers a fascinating combination of multiform panoramic vistas over the coast, which have always attracted big names in nobility and arts, who came here to build their villas or to be inspired by the landscape.

The name comes from the ancient Greek "Pausylipon", that signifies "pause from pain" and it was the name of the sumptuous Roman villa built upon Cape Posillipo. They remain from that villa some ruins of the theatre, the Odeon, the thermal baths and of a nymphaeum. The villa was owned by Publius Vedius Pollione, one of the main supporters of the emperor Octavian Augustus and who played a leading role in the transition from the Roman Republic to the Empire. On his death the villa passed under the emperor's property and it became one of the most beautiful and rich imperial villas ever known.

The Pausylipon Villa extended between Marechiaro and Nisida, which are today the limits of a protected area: the "Natural Park of the Gaiola", from the name of the islets in the middle of this area, on the south extremity of the promontory. Marechiaro is a delighting seafaring suburb that faces the middle of the Gulf of Naples, with the Vesuvius and the Sorrento peninsula in the background. It has inspired one of the most renown Neapolitan songs: "A Marechiaro", written by Salvatore Di Giacomo. Behind the village there is the small and characteristic church of Santa Maria del Faro (Our Lady of the Lighthouse), which contains some remains of the Roman villa. The tradition says it had been built upon the place where it was the ancient beacon tower by the Romans.  [ More...]