Ventotene (Lazio)

Ventotene is one of the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, 46 kilometres off the coast of Gaeta right at the border between Lazio and Campania, Italy. The island, the remains of an ancient volcano, is elongated, with a length of 3 kilometres and a maximum width of about 800 metres. The port has kept some tuff structures of the ancient Roman structure; on the island are also remains of villas and the extensive rainwater catchment system of channels and cisterns hewn from the bedrock, for the island has no natural springs of fresh water, which today is shipped in by tanker. In July 2009, archaeologists announced the discovery of a "graveyard" of five ancient Roman ships in the deep waters off Ventotene, with their pristine cargoes of olive oil, garum and metal ingots. One ship carried a full load of a kind of dish called a mortarium, in which foods were ground or mashed. Some of the recovered objects were immediately placed on view at Ventotene.