Baia Castle and Fusaro lake

After the success of the temporary exhibition “Nova Antiqua Phlegraea”: new archaeological treasures from the Phlegraean Fields, at the Casina vanvitelliana del Fusaro, the Archaeological Superintendence of the provinces of Naples and Caserta has given Gnosis Architettura the task of repeating the installation at the Castle of Baia. Unlike the scene at Fusaro, in Baia the entire exhibition route is more organically collected and distributed in 14 rooms arranged on two different levels of the castle, connecting to the exhibition route designed by the architect Guglielmo. Through an open-air terraced walkway, from which you can admire the entire Gulf of Pozzuoli, you access the first level, where all the finds are displayed in an orderly manner, according to geographical discovery criteria, in a sequence of rooms. Unlike the exhibition at Fusaro, at the Castello di Baia the more limited spaces, almost all square rooms and the long corridor connecting the second level, suggested the idea of ​​a structured and well-divided path in each room, as in the two smaller and more secluded rooms where the most evocative originals are masterfully reconstructed: the lararium and the nymphaeum.

The use of modular supports – consisting of a pair of vertical tracks, in turn formed by three courtain iron plates, with holes at regular intervals and with shaped elements in burnished brass placed at the base and at the end – allows for the display of large, heavy marble objects, without hooks, without altering their appearance, and facilitates their free usability in the complex spatiality. Other original exhibition elements, designed exclusively for this purpose, are the display cases placed in the connecting corridor on the upper floor between the Cuma exhibitions. This space, narrow but long in length, has been divided into three parts using display panels so as to act as a connecting element for every two rooms. In these spaces of limited width, the designers have collected the smaller objects in elegant structures, specifically designed. The containers are made up of three distinct volumes: two full – in curtain or blue and black sheet metal, to form the base and the roof and to contain the technological systems and the piston system for opening the front glass upwards – the other in glass. The usual contrast between the corroded effect of the curtain and the transparency of the glass gives the structure and the small room a harmonious and elegant overall vision and adequately transforms the space of a passage corridor into an exhibition space for small finds.

A display element of particular interest is the panel with the portraits of the Caesars, consisting of a large helical sand basin on which the “ship’s rostrum” is placed, while the white marble heads, aligned, stand out against a burnished black background, with almost no visible support elements, because the only element of union and support is the brass support that gives the entire panel lightness and harmony. Other display containers are the curved basins resting on the side walls and in the corners, sometimes semi-circular, sometimes circular; the double-sided display panels; the steles of variable width, or with a shelf or with a display case or portrait holder. The archaeological finds are highlighted through the use of natural and simple materials such as oxidized courtain-type iron, satin-finished steel, burnished brass and polished natural stone “ivory of Vicenza” and the flexibility and versatility of the designed display elements.