REITIA Surveying Underwater Archaeology

The Pontine Islands (Pontine) are an archipelago off the Italian coast south of Rome, north of Naples. With a long history, attested by Roman and pre-Roman ruins, the islands are nevertheless little-known to the international community., Gavi, Palmarola and Zannone on the western side, Ventotene and Santo Stefano on the eastern side, peculiar places whose destinies have been historically conditioned by their geographical proximity. Ventotene - under three kilometres long - is characterized by its ancient port, dug out of the rock. The small island of Santo Stefano, offshore, is dominated by a prison, built by the Bourbons and in use until 1965.islands have been places of exile and confinement since the ancient times. The Emperor Augustus exiled his shaming daughter Julia to Ventotene ; and Nero later did the same with his spouse Octavia. The remains of the Roman Villa Giulia can be seen on the tip of the Eolo promontory. Over the centuries many other exiles arrived on the Pontine islands, including the early saint Flavia Domitilla, the later President of Italy Sandro Pertini (a prisoner of the Fascist regime) and even Mussolini (confined here for a few days in 1943).Fortresses and prisons mostly date back to the period when the islands belonged to the Bourbons, ownership having passed from the Farnese family in 1734. the residential dwellings, of which Villa Giulia is the best known example, many monuments still testify the prosperity of that age. The water holding tanks, the necropolis, the harbour, the fishing farm dug out of the “tufo” cliff, under the direction of the constructor Columella. Even today, the ancient Roman port and the related basin show berths and bitts for ships' mooring and ancillary services (slip way, maintainance facilities, port stores etc). Around the island, the sea still hides ancient wrecks, unveiled by scattered “cocciaie” (heap of vases, pots, amphoras' fragments) as well as rare anchor stocks.