A Gondola, a Fishpond and, perhaps, a Thermal Bath. New evidence from Isola del Giglio

Between 2019 and 2021, excavation campaigns at the Roman peschiera (fishpond) of Bagno del Saraceno in Giglio Porto, carried out within the SEASCAPE project, provided the first systematic investigation of this submerged complex. The research revealed multiple construction phases, beginning with a late 1st-century BC landing installation hewn into the granite cliff and associated with the nearby maritime villa. During the Neronian period, this structure was transformed into a fishpond of four interconnected tanks supplied with freshwater from the Bonsere valley, which created the brackish environment necessary for fish farming. A late Hadrianic restoration phase saw the consolidation of the masonry in opus mixtum and opus reticulatum, contemporaneous with the reorganisation of the villa and its octagonal lighthouse on Poggio dei Castellari. Excavations yielded over 550 finds, mostly metallic artefacts, alongside ceramics, glass, stucco, and faunal remains. Among these, a remarkable lead model resembling a gondola, probably a late eighteenth- or nineteenth-century toy, was found within the fishpond sediments, testifying to later reuse of the site. Beneath the modern deposits, layers associated with the abandonment of the complex contained bessales from the figlinae of the Domitii and Gobathus, as well as quadrangular tubuli indicative of heated-water installations, suggesting possible connections between the fishpond and now-lost balnea within the villa’s maritime sector. Excavations carried out in 2023 and 2024 brought to light, beneath the modern school buildings, mosaic-paved rooms with suspensurae and tubuli similar to those found in the fishpond of Bagno del Saraceno. It is not yet certain whether these remains represent a balneum annexed to the fishpond or rather a section of the large maritime villa itself.