Terme di Baia e Castello Aragonese (Museo Campi Flegrei)

Bacoli

KnownHistory & archaeology

Terme di Baia e Castello Aragonese (Museo Campi Flegrei), Bacoli
AlMare · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

The story

Terraces of imperial baths descending towards the sea, and above them the Castello Aragonese guards the statues brought back up from the sunken Baia.

Access

The story

The Aragonese Castle of Baia rises on a promontory sheer above the sea, between the calderas of two Flegrean volcanoes, in a position that dominated the whole Gulf of Pozzuoli as far as Ischia and Procida. A late-fifteenth-century fortress on an already-Roman site, today it houses the Archaeological Museum of the Campi Flegrei.

What to see

The museum gathers the treasures of ancient Baiae and the Campi Flegrei: the statues and casts of the shrine of the Augustales of Misenum, the reconstructed imperial nymphaeum of Punta Epitaffio, the finds from the Roman villas of the area. And from the castle's terraces, a very wide panorama over the gulf.

Tips

Combine the visit to the castle with the museum: it is a striking sight between history and landscape. Find out about openings and ticket on the official channels, since the Flegrean area is subject to bradyseism. To be combined with the Underwater Park of Baia, a short distance away.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Aragonese Castle of Baia house?

The Archaeological Museum of the Campi Flegrei, with the finds of ancient Baiae, including the shrine of the Augustales of Misenum and the reconstructed nymphaeum of Punta Epitaffio.

Where is the Castle of Baia?

On a promontory at Baia, a hamlet of Bacoli, in the Campi Flegrei, facing the Gulf of Pozzuoli.

Why was the castle built there?

For its strategic position, sheer above the sea between two volcanic calderas, from which the whole gulf was controlled.

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