and in the former three cubicula were discovered behind the peristyle and two latrines and a garden were brought to light, while in the latter part of the great peristyle that looked directly over the sea. In 2009 new excavations brought to light a Roman road running along the northern perimeter of Villa San Marco. It is a paved road that connected the town of Stabiae with the seashore below: across this artery is a gate to the city and along the walls are a myriad of graffiti and small drawings in charcoal. On the other side of the road, a baths area of a new villa was discovered, partly explored in the Bourbon era. A Roman road also led to the entrance of a domus belonging to the "Ager stabianus". In May 2010 a villa dating to the first century was discovered during the work to double the railway track of the Torre Annunziata-Sorrento line of the Circumvesuviana, between the stations of Ponte Persica and Pioppaino. From 2011–14, Columbia University and H2CU (Centro Interuniversitario per la Formazione Internazionale) have been excavating in the Villa San Marco, investigating it as a Roman elite structure and the pre-79 AD history of the site. In 2019 excavations in the Piazza Unità d'Italia unearthed an Augustan or Julio-Claudian building and a 4th-century building. Villas Among the many villas found at Stabiae are firstly large leisure villas (villa otium) without agricultural buildings such as: Villa San Marco Villa Arianna the Second Complex, Villa del Pastore Villa del Fauno (or of Anteros and Heracles) and secondly residential villas with agricultural sections (villa rustica) such as: Villa del Petraro Villa Carmiano (Villas A and B) Villa Sant'Antonio Abate Villa Medici Villa del Filosofo (of the Philosopher) Villa Marchetti Villa detto Carmiano in Masseria Buonodono Villa Petrellune Villas in Ogliaro Casa dei Miri Villa Sassole Villa San Marco One of the largest villas ever discovered in Campania, it measured more than 11,000 sq. m, although only half has been excavated. It was being renovated at the time of the eruption as shown by building materials present and displaced artefacts. Nevertheless, it was lavishly decorated with frescoes, with stucco work, floor mosaics and wall mosaics all of very high artistic quality and many of which were removed and are now held in museums. This villa derived its name from a nearby chapel that existed in the 18th century,