to the sea by a series of ramps sloping toward the beach. Villa of Anteros and Heracles This (also called Villa del Fauno or Villa Chapel San Marco) is a villa otium situated on the border between Castellammare di Stabia and Gragnano, a few metres from Villa San Marco and on the Varano plateau. It was the first Stabian villa to be excavated during the Bourbon excavations of the ancient town in 1749 and was explored again by Karl Weber in 1779. After being investigated and plundered of all items considered of value it was reburied. The site was lost until 2006 when a group of volunteers clearing the Varano ridge witnessed a landslide which brought to light various structures, including a doorway and the hinge of a door. After the initial enthusiasm and initiatives to recover the remains, lack of funds has led to villa becoming overgrown again. Most of what is known of the villa derives from the descriptions of the Bourbons. In the southwest corner of a small peristyle were the remains of a lararium, in the niche of which was of a young Julio-Claudian woman, perhaps Livia or Antonia Minor, with curly hair adorned with a brooch, now in the Naples museum (inv. 6193). Next to it an altar was found and on the wall above a plaque about 1.5m wide in red letters and from the Augustan or Tiberian era that read: ANTEROS L HERACLIO SUMMAR MAG LARIB ET FAMIL D D It reports the dedication of a gift, perhaps the altar itself, to the Lares and the Familia by the freedman Anteros and the servant Heracleus, an employee of the administration of finance, both magistratus, officials of the cult. They had the tasks of keeping the documents of the village, collecting taxes and organise festivals; a large number of scales and coins, sometimes in gold were discovered. A cameo depicting a woman, perhaps Venus, holding a branch was also found. From the excavation journal and the detailed plan of La Vega, the villa was composed of three parts: the service area around the small peristyle with a statue-fountain of a Faun lying on a stone, which gave the villa its name and which seems out of place; to the west is a symmetrical sector with reception and living rooms decorated with paintings and mosaic floors; to the south is a triple portico with double