Roman Cistern of Dragonara

Excavated in the tuff wall overlooking the Misenum beach, there is a Roman cistern called Dragonara, characterized by a quadrangular plan divided into five naves by three rows of twelve big pillars carved in the tuff, with wall lining in opus reticulatum and covering in cocciopesto. Originally it was accessible from above through three large openings in the barrel vault. Recent excavations have brought to light a basin, covered with hydraulic cocciopesto, accessible by steps and characterized by an inclined plane towards an opening communicating with an underlying cistern. According to some scholars the cistern had the function of supplying the ships of the Misenate fleet, but it cannot be excluded that it must be related to the rooms belonging to a residential villa attested on the beach further south, perhaps identifiable on the basis of the evidence of literary sources with that which belonged to Lucullus, who died there during the reign of Tiberius, and was then acquired by the imperial state.