The Pirates of Pompeii :: Historical Background

The historical background to
The Pirates of Pompeii

Many people who visit the Bay of Naples to explore Pompeii make the town of Sorrento (ancient Surrentum) their base. The pretty harbour town is located on one of the most beautiful peninsulas in the world amid lemon groves and vineyards. From here, the Circumvesuviana railway makes it easy to visit the cities of Vesuvius.

South of Sorrento Town on the Cape of Sorrento you will find an extremely well preserved Roman road. Follow it down through ancient olive groves, and you will come to the remains of an opulent Roman villa right on the water. Many historians believe it belonged to a rich and cultured man named Pollius Felix. Their evidence is a poem written by a poet named Statius, a client of Felix. In his poem Statius describes Felix's villa, which is very like the Roman villa on the Cape of Sorrento.

Further up the coast - sheltered from Vesuvius by tall mountains - is a pretty spa town. Vico Equense is mostly built on the slopes but there is a small beach where you can still drink mineral water so full of iron that it turns your tongue red.

Pirates of Pompeii Villa Limona Pirate Vase Villa of Pollius Felix

below: on the road from Stabia to Surrentum