Tip o’ the pileus to Martin Conde, who alerted us to a story in la Reppublica relating the discovery of the villa of Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus — Ovid’s patron — and statuary from the Niobe story which is being connected to Ovid. I managed to track down an English summary in Gazzetta del Sud:
Archaeologists say they’ve uncovered an “exceptional” group of sculptures dating to the 1st century BC in a villa in Rome’s suburb of Ciampino. The sculptures, found in an ancient villa owned by Roman general Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, a patron of the poet Ovid, tell the myth of Niobe, the proud daughter of Tantalus who lost all her 14 children after boasting to the mother of Apollo and Artemis, Leto, about her fertility. Niobe, regarded as a classic example of the retribution caused by the sin of pride or hubris, was turned to stone. Excavations at the villa have also revealed a thermal bath area with fragments of artistic mosaics and a swimming pool as long as 20 meters with walls painted blue. Inside the bath area were found seven sculptures dating to the Augustan age, as well as a complete series of fragments that experts say can be reassembled. The group tells the story of Niobe, which figured in Ovid’s epic poem of transformation, the Metamorphoses, published in AD 8. La Repubblica newspaper said Tuesday a team of archaeologists made the valuable discovery last summer. “Statues of Niobe have been found in the past, but in the case of Ciampino, we have a good part of the group,” of statues, said Elena Calandra, superintendent of archaeological heritage. According to their reconstruction of the bath area, experts say the statues were carved on all four sides of the swimming pool, which may have been buried by an earthquake in the 2nd century AD.
- via: Archaeologists discover Augustan-era sculptures near Rome (Gazzetta del Sud)
It’s worth checking out Martin Conde’s flickr page of the La Reppublica coverage, which includes photos and a somewhat different spin on the story (which seems to be yet another major conservation kerfuffle in Italy): ROMA / LAZIO ARCHEOLOGIA: Roma, ecco le statue che Ovidio cantò nelle Metamorfosi Scoperta la villa di Messalla, LA REPUBBLICA (08/01/2013), pp. 1 & 23. If you need a quick refresher on the story of Niobe, here’s a translation of the relevant section of the Metamorphoses (6.146 ff) …
ADDENDUM (a couple hours later): See also Dorothy King’s post for further coverage and a whack of photos: New Niobids – New Light on a Old Group
Other coverage:
- ‘Exceptional’ find of Roman statues linked to poet Ovid (BBC)
- Statues linked to poet Ovid found near Rome (Daily Star)
- Archaeologists discover Augustan-era sculptures near Rome (ANSA)
- Ritrovata la villa del mecenate di Ovidio (ANSA)
- Seven statues linked to Ovid unearthed near Rome (Times)
- Seven ancient Roman statues linked to Latin poet Ovid unearthed near the Italian capital (Art Daily)
rogueclassicism 
Thank you and Grazie.
“Se si dimostrasse che effettivamente questa è la villa di Messala, si tratterebbe di una scoperta sensazionale, perché avremmo uno dei rarissimi…”
Personal comment to: “Martin,” from “Karl,
an Italian friend in Rome (08/01/2013).
ROMA / LAZIO ARCHEOLOGIA: “Ritrovate sette statue cantate
da Ovidio,…” TG1 / ITALIA (08/01/2013) [Video 01:13]. “…Dagli
scavi sono emersi un quartiere termale con frammenti di mosaici,
una ‘natatio’ ovvero una piscina all’aperto lunga oltre venti metri
con pareti dipinte di azzurro, e, dall’interno della vasca, sette
statue di età augustea complete oltre ad una serie di frammenti che
possono essere ricomposti. Un repertorio statuario che illustra il
mito di Niobe, raccontato anche da Ovidio nelle Metamorfosi.”
“…The discovery, according to the newspaper ”La Repubblica”, was
made by a team of supervisors of the archaeological sites.
Excavations revealed a thermal area with fragments of mosaics, a
‘natatio’ or a swimming pool 20 meters long with walls painted of
blue and, inside of the tank, seven statues of the Augustan age.”
UPDATE: The Villa and the Thermal Baths Complex (17/01/2013). New Googe Earth Views (2013) of the excavations site before and after.
LAZIO ARCHEOLOGIA: Ciampino svela un nuovo tesoro ritrovato un antico complesso termale – Databile al II secolo d. C., come mostrano i bolli dei laterizi di piena età antonina (138-192 d. C.), hanno la particolarità di essere una copia perfetta in scala delle Terme del Foro di Ostia Antica. LA REPUBBLICA (17/01/2013), p.1; GOOGLE EARTH | MAP (2013); CORRIERE DELLA SERA (09/01/2013), p. 24; LA REPUBBLICA (08/01/2013), pp. 1 & 23; Metaforum.it (08/01/2013); & TG1 / ITALIA (08/01/2013). Foto layout: Martin G. Conde, Washington DC, USA (17/01/2013).
LAZIO ARCHEOLOGIA: “Ciampino continua a svelare tesori archeologici. Dopo la Villa di Marco Valerio Messalla Corvino, cenacolo dei grandi poeti latini d’età augustea da Ovidio a Tibullo, dove sono riemerse le sette statue ispirate al mito di Niobe e dei Niobidi, stavolta tocca ad un vasto complesso termale in località Colle Oliva. Databile al II secolo d. C., come mostrano i bolli dei laterizi di piena età antonina (138-192 d. C.), hanno la particolarità di essere una copia perfetta in scala delle Terme del Foro di Ostia Antica.” LA REPUBBLICA (17/01/2013), p.1