the baths is via an atrium, painted with wrestlers and boxers, followed by apodyterium, tepidarium, frigidarium, palaestra and caldarium: the pool in the caldarium, accessible by stone steps, is 7x5m and 1.5m deep. In excavations in the pool, part of the bottom was removed exposing a large brick furnace heating a large bronze boiler which was removed in 1798 by Lord Hamilton to be transported to London, but during the trip the Colossus was shipwrecked. The caldarium was covered with marble slabs. From the baths there are a number of ramps connecting the villa with the shore. Villa Arianna Named for the fresco depicting Dionysus saving Ariadne from the island of Dia (a mythological name for Naxos), this villa is particularly famous for its frescoes, many of which depict light, winged figures. Notably some of the most exquisite and famous Roman frescoes were found in bedrooms 23 to 26 on Weber's plan, the latter room having an especially fine decor with 18 outstanding frescoes. It is the oldest villa d'otium in Stabiae, dating back to the 2nd century BC. The villa was extended over the course of 150 years. It is skilfully designed so that the residential quarters take advantage of the panorama along the ridge overlooking the Bay of Naples. It occupies an area of about 11000 sqm. of which only 2500 have been excavated. Some of the rooms were lost as a result of landslides on the slope. Another feature is its private tunnel system that links the villa from its location on the ridge to the sea shore, which was probably only between 100 and 200 metres away from the bottom of the hill in Roman times. The shoreline has since changed, leaving the site further inland than it was in antiquity. It was first excavated between 1757 and 1762 when the villa was called the "first complex" to distinguish it from the "second complex", from which it is separated by a narrow alley. The excavations were resumed by D'Orsi in 1950. In 2008 the large peristyle, one of the largest of any Roman villa at 370m in length, was brought to light almost completely, along with new rooms, columns and windows. Layout It has a complex plan, the result of several expansions of the building and was conveniently divided into four sections: the atrium, the thermal baths, the triclinium and the peristyle. The "Tuscan" atrium, dating