Villa di Poppea
This is the largest ancient Roman suburban villa ever discovered and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the unique quality of its frescoes. It was certainly a villa belonging to the imperial family, and scientists believe it was the property of the famous Poppea Sabina, the second wife of Emperor Nero: An amphora bearing the name of her freedman and a vase bearing her mark were found on the villa's grounds. The villa was enormous, with a large portico opening onto a garden with a huge pool surrounded by statues, and innumerable rooms, passages, and cubicles, including a kitchen that is still recognizable as such today.
The most outstanding feature is the villa's truly superb decorations: Frescoes, stucco work, and mosaics have been left in situ, unlike in Pompeii or Herculaneum where, with the exception of the most recent excavations, they were removed to museums. Most of the interior was lavishly painted and many of the frescoes are still in very good repair, closely recalling the more famous ones in the Villa dei Misteri of Pompeii and in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Naples.
The villa also yielded a treasure-trove of high-quality statuary, second only to the findings in the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, but, it was found tucked away in a storeroom. In fact, the entire villa was devoid of signs of daily life, leading experts to believe that it was being restored at the moment of the eruption, maybe as a consequence of the preceding earthquake of A.D. 62.
This is the largest ancient Roman suburban villa ever discovered and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the unique quality of its frescoes. It was certainly a villa belonging to the imperial family, and scientists believe it was the property of the famous Poppea Sabina, the second wife of Emperor Nero: An amphora bearing the name of her freedman and a vase bearing her mark were found on the villa's grounds. The villa was enormous, with a large portico opening onto a garden with a huge pool surrounded by statues, and innumerable rooms, passages, and cubicles, including a kitchen that is still recognizable as such today.
The most outstanding feature is the villa's truly superb decorations: Frescoes, stucco work, and mosaics have been left in situ, unlike in Pompeii or Herculaneum where, with the exception of the most recent excavations, they were removed to museums. Most of the interior was lavishly painted and many of the frescoes are still in very good repair, closely recalling the more famous ones in the Villa dei Misteri of Pompeii and in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Naples.
The villa also yielded a treasure-trove of high-quality statuary, second only to the findings in the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, but, it was found tucked away in a storeroom. In fact, the entire villa was devoid of signs of daily life, leading experts to believe that it was being restored at the moment of the eruption, maybe as a consequence of the preceding earthquake of A.D. 62.
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