Oplontis - Villa Poppea
Villa Oplontis, also called Villa Poppea, is a good place to start explorations of cities buried by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. This site is a luxury house, thought to be the villa of Poppea Sabina, second wife of the emperor Nero, or perhaps other imperial family members. Located only three miles from Pompeii, this suburban residence would have been a great place for a wealthy family to come for fun in the sun by the sea.
The villa was built in 1st century BC, a swimming pool and garden salons were added in the next century. The house was probably unoccupied when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, covering everything with ash and pumice, and part of the extensive property is still buried under the modern town.
Tip: To visit Oplontis - Villa Poppea, it's located in the town of Torre Annunziata, a stop on the Circumvesuviana train. From the train station, walk west down the hill a few blocks, following signs to the "scavi" (ruins).
Exploring the ruins -
Visiting the Viila at Oplontis, kids can see an ancient Roman luxury house with atrium, dining room, lararium for the household shrine, kitchen, latrine, rooms to entertain, peristyle garden, private baths, even guest rooms, and a very big swimming pool. As this was a luxurious villa, the walls are gorgeously decorated with bright glowing paintings, and colorful mosaics on the floors.
Tip: Throughout the house, look for paintings of peacocks (associated with the goddess Juno), symbols of protection and immortality.
Today, when you enter the ruins coming down the stairway, this is the back side of the villa, not the front. Visitors would have entered through the atrium, with public entertaining rooms on the right and left. To make it easier to follow a route through the villa using the map provided with the ticket, we start with the atrium (labeled room #1 on the map).
Atrium - The rectangular atrium has a pool in the center for collecting rain water, surrounded by colorful floor mosaics. On the west wall is a monumental painting, decorated with pointy shields and swirly columns, striking medallions of faces in the center.
Kitchen - The long rectangular counter was used for building a fire, cooking was done over the fire pots on tripods or grills, firewood was stored underneath. To the right is a circular sink.
Caldarium - A section of the private baths, the caldarium (hot room) is beautifully decorated with a back wall painting of Hercules, having retrieved golden apples from the garden of Hesperides. On the ceiling are Greek sea gods riding seahorses, and another panel has a fluffy peacock (looks like a turkey) and scenes of daily life.
Salon 5 - The nearby salon, used for parties or as a receiving room, shows off an Apollo shrine painting, theater masks facing elegant peacocks, and a contemporary looking "confetti" floor mosaic. The adjoining room has a circular fountain in the center (charming effect for entertaining).
Trinclinium (dining room) - Step from the salon into the dining room. On the left and right walls are golden painted columns covered with twirly vines and sparkling gems, two griffins and golden shield in the center, and figures of female divinities.
Salon 8 - Pop into this room (perhaps it was another dining room) to see an impressive tragic theater mask, vases, griffins in the back wall painting, and on the side wall a fruit basket with transparent covering (looks a gift basket, just delivered to the villa).
From there, follow the long Corridor (9) and columned walkway around the peristyle garden, until you reach the swimming pool.
Swimming pool - Quite a big pool, it's 200 ft (61 meters) long, 55 ft (17 meters) wide, and was lavishly decorated with landscaping and white marble statues.
Salon garden rooms - Along the swimming pool are three different entertaining rooms, decorated with garden scenes. These scenes are so realistic, you can almost hear the fountains flowing and birds singing (from almost 2,000 years ago).
Go back through the long corridor lined with stone benches, black and white zebra stripes, to the latrine.
Latrine - The Romans engineered running water for their bathrooms, and this latrine also had a wall separating men and women. Water from the big rectangular tub flowed along the canal to remove waste.
Peristyle 22 and Lararium - The lararium and interior peristyle garden were private rooms for the family. In the lararium, an altar would have displayed figures of household guardian deities and offerings. (Despite the importance of this room, only a few frescoes remain.)
From here, you can make you way out through the corridor adjoining the baths to the back side of the villa, where you started.
