The archaeological superintendency of Pompeii has acquired the last of three floor mosaics from the thermal bathhouse of the Villa della Pisanella at Boscoreale, the area north of Pompeii where Roman aristocrats had their country villas, for around €130,000. The black-and-white piece, which shows an ibis pecking at a snake, will be cleaned and repaired. It belonged to the descendants of Vincenzo De Prisco, who excavated the site in the 1890s and sold its hoard of silver (the villa was later reburied). The superintendency is considering staging a show to recreate the Boscoreale baths at the national archaeological museum in Naples, which owns a bronze basin and original pipes from the site.
