RAI Cultura

“Now we don’t like panels or spaces that stretch mountains into a room: here we start painting with stone”. So does Pliny testify to the introduction of a new decorative technique that was to become one of the most popular for paving and decorating imperial buildings, private residences and public facilities: the mosaic. And it is here in Portus, in a late antique thermal facility, that we will discover the long and complex restoration work carried out on a floor mosaic of one of the service areas of the baths. The recovery of an important archaeological asset and the telling of a model of integration that was one of the foundations of Roman society for centuries.

A journey to discover Italy's extraordinary underwater heritage. A true liquid museum, full of treasures. The wonders of the sunken city of Baia. The Albenga shipwreck, the largest Roman honour ship found in the Mediterranean. The dancing satyr of Mazara del Vallo, a masterpiece of Greek bronze statuary, found in the depths of the Sicilian Channel. And the amazing discovery of the naval rostrums from the battle of the Egadi Islands, on the island of Levanzo, where the Romans defeated the Carthaginians, ending the First Punic War.