Finally things change for the beautiful Piscina Mirabilis in Bacoli and for the Temple of Serapis in Pozzuoli and, from Friday 11 June 2021, these sites will be able to be visited on a more regular basis thanks to the introduction of access tickets and a project to open them permanently.
We say goodbye to rose water reservations, to the request for a favor to the "lady who holds the keys" to open the gate, especially to the swimming pool, and to all these practices that are not suited to a location of this immense value and to an area, that of the Campi Flegrei, which increasingly aspires to perfect its tourist vocation.
Days and hours of opening
There will be fixed opening hours, tickets will be detached, there will be guided tours, app to download, but also workshops and many other initiatives for adults, children and families to experience and fully discover the wonderful Piscina Mirabilis and the Temple of Serapis
Temple of Serapis / Macellum of Pozzuoli
- Thursday from 10.00 to 14.00
- Saturday and Sunday from 10.00 to 18.00 in the summer months
- guided tours every hour for groups of up to 20 people
Some will be organized between June and September institutional events, as show Kême with the sculptures, exhibited on the taberna, created by the students of the Sculpture School of the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, series of conferences, concerts, literary readings, fitness and sport activities.
Piscina Mirabilis
- Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10.00 to 17.00
- on weekdays for groups, always from 10.00 to 17.00
- visits will start from the ticket office on the ground floor of Pio Monte della Misericordia, in via Campi Elisi 1, 200 meters from the entrance to the Mirabilis Pool.
There are two ways to visit the site
- the guided tour that can be booked for the following shifts: 10:00 - 12:00 - 14:00 - 16:00
- accompaniment on the site, using a free audio guide app created in collaboration with the partner Baia Experience. This type of visit can be booked in one of these four shifts: 11:00 - 13:00 - 15:00 - 17:00.
La reservation is always required on the site Piscina Mirabilis or to the email booking@piscinamirabilisbacoli.it.
A new strategic project between public and private
A turning point that had been waiting for a long time and that has finally arrived. Despite everything, however, it goes also recognized the commitment of those women and men which in many years have made it possible to visit the site of the swimming pool making themselves available to open the gates with the keys in their possession, helping to promote and protect its beauty, in the absence of an institutional plan that is finally now in place.
Today, thanks also to collaboration with many associations, cooperatives and professionals, the tourist routes of the Phlegraean Fields are getting better and better. One was fielded special form of partnership between public and private with a strategic project to improve and expand the use of these places, also guaranteeing sustainable and inclusive development.
La Piscina Mirabilis: the Roman cistern
It is a archaeological monument of the Roman age that represents one of the most incredible works of this people because it is the largest existing cistern of drinking water and has only one "twin" in the world, in Istanbul. The Istanbul cistern, however, is more recent by 500 years. It was meant to serve as supply for the army which was stationed in the Port of Miseno.
Inside you can walk between the different naves of which it is made up: it is covered with a barrel vault with 48 huge pillars cruciform on four rows that create five aisles. This large cistern constituted the final part of the 100 km long Augustan aqueduct.
The Temple of Serapis or Macellum: the ancient market
Wrongly called the Temple, it is a ancient Roman market whose correct name is Macellum di Pozzuoli. At the time of the discovery, a statue of the God Serapis was found, one Egyptian deity, and for this reason it was called the Temple. In reality it was a statue placed inside the Macellum, the public market, which misled the first scholars.
The site is fundamental for the study of the bradyseism of Pozzuoli because at its base there are phenomena of raising or lowering of the water that allow us to analyze active volcanism.
Has a square courtyard with a portico overlooked by several shops and you can also admire the remains of stairs.
Photo source: Ivano Iannelli
