Villa di Poppea

About

There would be no way of knowing that there was a cluster of Roman villas buried beneath the town of Torre Annunziata if it weren’t for an obscure, 12th century copy of an ancient Roman road map. Fortunately, a canal dug in the 1590s to supply water to a grain mill exposed the ancient villa which was excavated in 1734 by Charles III of Spain. Evidence suggests that this majestic villa was the residence of Emperor Nero’s second wife Poppaea, before he killed her by kicking her in the stomach. Poppaea employed the empire’s best artisans to decorate her seaside villa with statues, mosaics and frescoes. When Vesuvius erupted, it covered the villa pyroclastic mud, preserving the structure, and its artwork, which is now open for visitors to experience true Roman luxury.