San Vito tombs and VillaElvira, Puteoli, Italy Part 2

Apr 11

“…and on the second day we came to Puteoli.” Acts 28:13

At the north of Pozzuoli, you can walk out of the city on the ancient Roman Via Cella. Turn West onto the Via Campana Consolaris heading toward Capua as Paul, his Roman guard and companions likely did. You will be walking the same Roman pavement for over a thousand feet on this road! Paul and company would have walked all the way to Capua, avoiding swampy inland roads up the coast, and connected to the Via Appia for the final leg of their journey to Rome. Walk a little over a mile on this route and you will come to a line of tombs on the right hand side of the road that date from the 1st century BC to 2nd century AD. Across the street from these tombs is a beautiful restaurant and event site, VillaElvira.

In 2006, the restaurant was undergoing renovation and discovered that it sits atop an early Christian necropolis! The restaurant preserved these findings by installing glass flooring that allows you to look down into the niches from the dining room. Incredibly friendly and knowledgable staff gave us a full underground tour which included burial niches and colorfully frescoed tombs. There is even an opus reticulatum retaining wall from a Roman street that is now under the restaurant and serves as their wine cellar. Most fascinating of all is a particularly colorful tomb called “of the Good Shepherd” with a fresco of a Shepherd flanked by sheep. Likely one of the earliest depictions of Jesus as the Good Shepherd from the 200’s AD.

The food we were served for dinner was as fabulous as the tour - and they didn’t even objected to our bedraggled appearance after a full day of walking. We were in for another 2 mile hike in the dark and rain back to the apartment. The restaurant is a bit out of town and we were unable to get a cab to come get us. Worth every single step!!