A Roman villa with extraordinary frescoes
In the middle of the modern town of Torre Annunziata, a few kilometres from Pompeii, lies one of the most sumptuous Roman villas ever found: Villa A of Oplontis, attributed to Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of Emperor Nero. Buried by the eruption of AD 79 and part of the UNESCO site of Pompeii, it is far less visited than the great excavations and can be enjoyed almost alone.
The villa, with more than ninety rooms, overlooked the sea in a setting of gardens and pools. Its frescoes in the "second style" are among the finest in the Roman world: painted architecture creating illusions of depth, columns, theatre masks, peacocks, baskets of fruit and still lifes so vivid that they seem real. There are also a large swimming pool 60 metres long, the baths and the service quarters. Plane trees and other plants were replanted where their roots were found in the ash.
Tip: the villa is included in some combined tickets with Pompeii; it is a short walk from the Torre Annunziata station of the Circumvesuviana.
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