The Macellum (also improperly called Temple of Serapide or Serapeo) of Pozzuoli is more than an archaeological site: it is also a “scientific laboratory” that allows us to reconstruct the movements of the ground of the Flegrei camps in the last two millennia. Finding himself almost perfectly at the center of the Vulcanic Flegrea caldera, the undisputed symbol of the city of Pozzuoli characterized by Three imposing marble columns is a geological witness of bradyseism Present in the Flegrea area, characterized by the movement of the soil due to the volcanic activity below.
Discovered in 1750 but dating back to The or second century ADthe structure that today is located in front of the Navy of the Port of Pozzuoli was part of the public market – the Macellumin fact – of the ancient Roman city of Puteolithe current Pozzuoli. Today the three Cipollino marble columns show holes produced by talkedmarine molluscs. As if once the Macellum Puteolino had been submerged in the waters of the Gulf of Naples. The explanation is simple: the columns were once submerged due to the volcanic phenomenon of bradisism, which affects the phlegrei camps like other volcanic calder in the world, in which the soil rises and lowers regularly as if the volcano below “breathe”.
By dating the holes of the coasts, the scientists have managed to reconstruct the vertical movement of the land Liby in the past two thousand years. Observe the graph below, produced by the Ingv:
At the time of the construction of the Macellum, the columns were – obviously – above the sea level, but the braiseismic lowering of the ground brought them to sink horseback between the 4th and fifth century AD The rise of the soil began centuries later, in the thirteenth century, when the columns were beyond 8 meters below sea level. Positive bradisism reached its peak immediately before the last eruption recorded in the Flegrea area, the one that produced Monte Nuovo in 1538. The Temple of Serapide returned to the surface a few years earlier, reaching a maximum share of approximately in 1538 6 meters above sea level. At that point, a new phase of subsidence of the soil began, which led the Serapeo to go down below the sea level towards the mid -nineteenth century. The subsequent ascent took place only with the 1982-1984 bradisismic crisis, and since then the archaeological site has been a fine show above the sea level.
There is probably no more tangible and precious testimony of bradisism all over the world. It is therefore no coincidence that Pozzuoli’s Macellum was fundamental to study and understand this volcanic phenomenon, and that the archaeological site is still considered today one of the most important monuments in the world.
Above the dormant giant of the Campi Flegrei live over 500,000 people, a population that makes every measure of safety and each evacuation plan extremely complex. The area is divided into risk areaswith a “red zone” that should be evacuated by 72 hours in case of high alarm. However, the logistical and social complexity of such a massive evacuation remains an unresolved trunk, highlighted by the lack of adequate infrastructure and a culture of preparation for volcanic events.
