Archaeological park of the Roman Thermal Baths

The Archaeological park of the Roman Thermal Baths, brought back to light after some extended archaeological excavations and enhancement works completed in 1998, keeps some of the most important and most extensive mosaics discovered so far along the entire middle-Adriatic coast, with a total surface of about 250 square meters, besides a series of rooms with remains of thermal paving, basins, tanks and a big hall paved with valuable marbles.
The wide Neptune mosaics are characterized by a very intricate decoration, based on a delicate intertwining of styled vegetable elements, which define a central area in the shape of a four-leaf clover, highlighting in the center the mighty figure of the Sea God with his pitchfork. The divinity is represented with great ability in the rendering of the anatomic details and with an extraordinary research of tridimensional effects. On each side there are other eight panels, inside which four Nereids are represented, two on horseback, one on a dragon, and one on a seahorse. The composition is inserted in a complex of other four-leaf clovers and rosettes decorated with delicate vegetable patterns. The great craftsmanship in rendering light and shade is evident in the realization of the anatomic details of the figures and it confirms the presence, in the Histonium of the first half of the 2nd century A.D., of refined workers possessing great ability and technical skill.