Upside-Down Fig Tree

Inside the “Parco Archeologico delle Terme di Baia,” one little tree defies physics.

The modern city of Bacoli holds the ruins of Baia. It was once a playground for the super-rich of Rome, the emperors and their ilk. Julius Caesar had a villa there and so did did Emperors Nero and Caligula. Now the ancient resort town is a venerated archaeological site, but no one told the defiant upside-down fig tree that grows from the crumbling brick of an ancient building.

The tree sprouts from the ceiling of the arch it grows inside, which was allegedly part of the Emperor Nero’s private villa. No one is quite sure how the tree ended up there or how it survived, but year after year it continues to grow downwards and bear figs.