A NEW “VILLA OF THE MYSTERIES” EMERGES FROM POMPEII’S EXCAVATIONS

“VILLA OF THE MYSTERIES” EMERGES FROM POMPEII’S EXCAVATIONS

Italy isn’t just oil — it holds something far richer: cultural and landscape heritage. It’s a resource that never runs out, capable of telling ancient stories and, for those willing to listen, revealing the soul of the country.

In Pompei, in Regio IX, insula 10, something emerged that will be called a historic moment even in a hundred years: a Dionysian fresco of life-size scale, wrapping around three walls of a large banquet hall — the fourth wall looking out onto a garden. In ancient art terms, it’s a megalographia — figures drawn at real scale.

The walls show Dionysus’s procession: maenads dancing, hunters in skirts, satyrs playing music, rituals and libations. The figures are tall and alive, but painted standing on pedestals — stuck between marble stillness and ritual movement. At the center, a mortal woman — guided by an aged silenus holding a torch — prepares to be initiated into the mysteries of a god who dies and is reborn, offering his followers the same promise.

Archaeologists have nicknamed the house “the House of the Thiasos,” referencing Dionysus’s sacred procession.

Here, art becomes the record of a mystery cult, a rite open only to initiates, guardians of secrets and a promise: rebirth, in this world or the next. The fresco dates back to around 40–30 BC, part of the Second Pompeian Style. Remember, at the time of Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 AD, this painting was already an antique — a whole century old.

Unlike the famous Villa of the Mysteries, this one adds a fresh note: the hunt. Above the main scene, a second frieze unfolds, smaller but vivid — alive with deer, boar, birds, fish, and mollusks — an echo of life and death intertwined.

Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said it opens “another window on Dionysian rituals,” making Pompei a singular witness to ancient Mediterranean spirituality. This isn’t merely archaeological news. It’s proof that, without oil fields, Italy has an inexhaustible reserve of beauty, history, and culture.

Handled well and cared for, this is the real energy for our future.