SCAVI ARCHEOLOGICI DI OPLONTIS - VILLA DI POPPEA

Located near Pompeii, Oplontis shared its fate during the dramatic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. This seaside resort district, occupied during Antiquity by the great Roman aristocrats and patricians - oplontis literally means "opulence" - was uncovered during archaeological excavations begun in 1840. A suburb of Pompeii, the ancient luxury residential complex of Oplontis has been inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List since 1997.

It is in this context that we discover the monumental and grandiose Villa of Poppea, the second wife of the Emperor Nero. This sumptuous residence, built on a promontory overlooking the sea (volcanic deposits have pushed the coastline back 400 m), is the largest (110 x 75 m) in Campania, after the Villa of the Papyrus at Herculaneum (260 x 70 m). Surrounded by a beautiful garden and a colonnaded portico, the complex had 94 rooms: atrium, triclinium (dining room - notice the basket of figs on the wall, particularly successful), winter gardens, kitchens, bathrooms, baths (the decoration of the walls represents scenes full of realism), and a huge swimming pool 60 meters long. The paintings and sculptures are of great beauty and in an exceptional state of preservation. The trompe l'oeil frescoes of the second Pompeian style (1st century BC - Augustan period) are also worth a look, and are surprisingly modern. The art of trompe l'oeil reaches its peak here!