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Brief guide to Oplontis

Rules for visiting the excavations

8. Pets are not allowed.

People with motor difficulties and heart problems should beespecially careful.

We recommend that you wearlow-heeled shoes on your visit.

*from the Regulations for visitorsto the Excavations (n. 213 dated22.01.01)

Welcome to the Vesuvianarchaeological areas.

In the archaeological areas the law D. lgs 81/08 is applied according to the historical and archaeological important heritage protection rules and restrictions, especially in the archaeological Vesuvian area.We especially ask you to followthe rules* below for a moreenjoyable and safer stay:

1. Be extremely careful whenmoving about. Do not stand onthe edge of the digs or climb thewalls.2. Please respect all entrance andaccess restrictions.3. Please show respectfulbehavior, refraining from makingunnecessary noise, writing on thewalls, and littering. Please place allgarbage in the containersprovided.4. Photographs and movie filmingare authorized solely for privateuse; you must contact theSoprintendenza before filmingwith tripods, flash and artificiallighting, or for any commercial use.5. Guides do not work for theSuperintendency. They are officialand authorized by the RegioneCampania. They have to showtheir licence under request.

7. Smoking

is

not

permitted.

6. It is forbidden the access

with purses, backpacks and any type of lugagge.

“otium”* villa, built near the coastwhere-also due to the healthyclimate-those who lived therecould recover in body and spiritfar from the hectic lifestyle of thecapital. Adorned with spectacularpainted decorations in Pompeii's2nd style*, enhanced withadmirable ornaments such as thewhite marble sculptures thatdecorated its gardens and pool,the building offers all of thetechnological features typical ofevery patrician residence, whoserooms are laid out in conformitywith the simplest architecturalplan in the oldest part, morecomplex in the more recentareas.Attributed to Poppea, wife ofNero, according to a fewmentions of the Empress, the villa(the oldest part of which datesfrom the mid-1st cent. A.D., andwas later expanded) must havebeen part of the extensive landholdings in possession of theimperial family along theCampania coast. After theemperor's death, the buildingmust have been transferred toanother owner, who orderedsome remodelling work, still inprogress at the time of theeruption.

Brief history of Oplontis and its villas

Among Vesuvian archaeologicalsites, buried following thedramatic eruption in 79 A.D.,Oplontis is probably the one thatoffers the most significantmonumental evidence of thePompeii suburbs.The group of Roman era buildingsfound, beginning in the Bourbonperiod, in the modern city ofTorre Annunziata, is comparableto an actual city suburb,administratively subject to thejurisdiction of Pompeii, with itstypical array of villas and a fewpublic buildings linked by streets,similar to what has been found inStabiae.What is special about Oplontis, aplace name found solely in theTabula Peutingeriana, ancient mapof the roads that crossed theregions of the Empire, is thepresence of two monumentalbuildings of different purposes.The first-the so-called Villa ofPoppea-was a grandiose andluxurious residential complex; thesecond, the Villa of L. CrassiusTertius (currently not open to thepublic), was a business centeraround processing agriculturalproducts, particularly wine and oil.In addition, an uncovered spa inPunta Oncino confirms thehypothesis that Oplontis was asmall town, thus also containingpublic buildings. The Villa of Poppea, brought tolight between 1964 and 1984, isthe most classic example of an

1 The tour begins exactly where the mainentrance stood in ancient times. The realentryway was in the south, where there iscurrently a man-made canal, a byway of theSarno River, created and used until fairlyrecently to supply water to the mills of TorreAnnunziata.The grand sitting room, with an opening in theroof (compluvium)* and corresponding tub inthe center of the floor (impluvium)*, to collectrainwater, with a floor entirely made ofmosaic*, is characterized by the presence ofexceptionally fine monumental frescoes inPompeian 2nd style*, probably by the studioshop that worked in Boscoreale during thesame period (approximately mid-I BC). Therealism that suffuses these decorations, whosepurpose was to use illusion to expand thephysical limits of the walls, is clear if oneobserves the architectural structures ofcolumns, high podiums on steps, false doorswith metal parts, and embellished with thefinest detailing, such as the torch resting onthe steps, or the heads in circular elements(imagines clipeatae), at the top of the westwall.

Atrium

2 The most important of the service rooms has alarge masonry bench along its north side, with abrick-covered work surface, where food wascooked in terracotta or bronze pots resting oniron supports over the fire. In the part belowthere are small rooms with semicircularopenings, to store wood.Along the east side of the floor is a round tubused to drain liquids.A platform is visible on the south side, whichpresumably housed servants' quarters, accessedby means of a staircase in an adjacent room.

Kitchen

3 As in other residences of people belonging to certainhigh social levels, the Villa of Poppea also had its ownprivate baths, consisting of the rooms that normallymade up such facilities. The calidarium (bathroomheated with hot air) of the Villa of Poppea has thetypical features of this type of rooms, meaning thetegulae mammatae, terracotta slabs kept away fromthe wall by corner protrusions, and the suspensurae,hollow earthenware columns or small brick pillarsupon which the floor rested. These details both allowed hot air to flow along thewalls and under the floor, ensuring that the heat inthe room remained relatively constant.The painted decorations covering the walls refer tothe so-called 3rd style* of Pompeii, in which realisticelements appear, which in this case consist of slendercolumns supporting architraves* in the central part ofthe wall, and slim architectural partitions for purelydecorative purposes at the top, into which smalllandscape or figure paintings were inserted, or evenlarge paintings that were generally copies of theclassical Greek tradition. The painting inserted in the center of the east walldepicts the myth of Hercules* in the garden of theHesperides*.

Calidarium

4 Throughout the bath sectors, both public andprivate, alongside the calidarium was thetepidarium, a room heated-unlike the previousone-with warm air : this room does not havethe tegulae mammatae on the walls, containinginstead suspensurae under the floor, visiblethrough a metal grate, and made up of brickpilasters.The frescoes, with black background at thebottom, red in the middle, belong to the 4thstyle* of Pompeii, which favours a purelydecorative taste in painting, with large panelsoccupying the middle section of the wall,bearing paintings of birds pecking fruit, flankedby upright stems in turn topped by slender,schematic architectural structures. The latterhave nothing to do with the illusionist realismof the 2nd style*, but are instead presented asimaginative compositions despite their use ofactual architectural elements.

Tepidarium

5 This large sitting room is certainly one of therooms that most effectively represents theluxury and majesty of the Oplontis residence,for both its size and for the fresco decoratingthe only uncovered wall. It was presumablyused as a dining room; we imagine that inancient times it was open to the south with aview of the sea through a large door and awindow, of which we can see the imprinttoday.The most striking element for the visitor iscertainly the spectacular wall painting, alsobelonging to the 2nd style*, in which theillusionist realism is rendered by means of anartistic portrayal of a sanctuary of Apollo,divinity symbolized by the Delphic tripodlocated amid trees and shrubs beyond a gatewith architrave*, opening between two tallcolumns resting on a podium. This extravagantfresco, inspired by the Hellenic Baroque styleand theatre scenery, recalled by theperspective colonnades on the sides, has a fewnotably fine details such as the peacocks ortheatre masks, which fit well into the complexdecorative structure.

Sitting room

6 This was the dining room, ordinarily used assuch, in which the triclinium cots on whichguests ate lying down were arranged along thewalls, while the food table was located in thecenter of the room, over a mosaic withpolychrome rhomboid shapes.Also in this room, the 2nd style* walldecoration has a podium at the bottom, overwhich rise columns of marble colored ordecorated with metal segments. In the centerof the east and west sides there is a door,beyond which one can see round cuspidatetemples*, with statues of female divinitiesinside, and perspective colonnades similar tothose already seen in sitting room 5. On thenorth wall, beyond a gate, a tall columnsupports a statue of a feminine divinity in agarden. The most interesting feature of thiswall is the decorative motif consisting of abasket of figs, a skillfully rendered naturalisticmotif, located below an arch in the upperright.

Triclinium*

7 This small bedroom had beds placed inspecial niches, with vaulted ceilings, on theeast and north sides, with a passageway lateropened from the back wall.Of considerable interest are the imprints ofthe door, and especially the window, whichwas ajar at the time of the eruption.The frescoes in 2nd style* are very similar tothose in atrium 5: here again the decorationconsists of illusionist architectural structures,less imposing and proportionally smaller inrelation to the smaller size of the room.The stucco-framed niche vaults weredecorated with a coffered motif, while thelunettes showed landscape scenes.

Cubiculum*

8 The frescoes in 2nd style* on the walls of thissitting room, which opens onto the portico 9,stand out from the others not so muchbecause of the overall structure of thedecoration which, as usual, has a podiumsupporting columns with architraves* overpassageways, as for the details included hereand there, through which the craftsmenwished once again to enhance and somehowsoften the severity of the decorations, whilesimultaneously demonstrating his considerableartistic skill.On the north side, in the lower right, a fruitbasket appears covered by a thin veil while,still on the right but above, the transparencyof the glass of a cup of pomegranates isrendered with great skill. On the oppositesouth side, at the bottom, a tall support holdsa sort of cake, while at the top center of thewestern side is a lovely example of a maskrecalling the theatrical backdrops of classicalHellenic Greek tradition, which originated the2nd style* decorative complexes.

Sitting room

9 Symmetrical in relation to the other, nearlyidentical, which extends to the west of theatrium, this portico has a structural peculiarityin its columns, which are joined by sections ofwall in opus craticium*, with wooden framesfilled with stone blocks, into which it is quitepossible a gate was inserted: this expedienthad to be adopted to protect the back roomsfrom being too hot in summer, and too cold inwinter. The above rooms-which, like the portico, weresoberly decorated in 4th style* with a red orwhite background-were small bedrooms, inone of which it has been possible to recreatethe decorated ceiling.In 3rd style*, thus from a previous era, isinstead the fresco of the cubiculum* at thebeginning of the portico, in the northwestcorner, with a yellow background at thebottom and in the central panels, separated bycandelabra and pilasters, while at the topappear architectural elements in perspectiveon a white background, finely rendered withcalligraphic precision.

Portico

10 In addition to the large northern viridarium*,which was the “public” garden so to speak, theVilla of Poppea also offered this other garden,which differs from the other in being moreintimate and secluded, and which made itpossible to spend a few hours of the day restingand meditating. Today it has been planted withbay trees, a species assumed to have been grownthere in ancient times.The garden is enclosed within a three-armedcolonnade (porticus triplex), with brick columnscovered with white stucco. The interior walls aredecorated in 4th style*, with panels with a redbackground in the central area. A decoration in4th style* is also present on the architraves*supported by columns.

Peristyle*

11

Corridor

This room, which has two perpendicular arms,surrounds and links a few public rooms built inthe pool area.The west-east arm leads directly to the roomsaround the immense tub: on the south side is theentrance to a tiny room containing the onlyproductive sector of the villa, at least in the partthat has been brought to light. This is a smallwine press which, considering its compact size,must have been used solely to satisfy the needsof those who lived in the building.The frescoes in 4th style* that cover the walls,on a primarily red background, clearly show that-unlike many Pompeii houses, where during thesame period wall decorations were often fairlymundane-in this grandiose patrician residence thefrescoes are extremely high in quality, as can beseen by observing the details in the middle ofthe central panels, with birds pecking at fruit.Of considerable interest is the ceiling in theother south-north arm, also in 4th style*,completely rebuilt immediately after theexcavation.

12 The unusual shape of this living room is a sortof adaptation to the particular configuration ofthe public sitting room, located in front of thegarden facing the pool and opening onto itthrough a window. This polygonal sitting room,accessed through a passageway in thenortheast corner, had no frescoes on thewalls, which were instead covered at thebottom by wainscoting in colored marble, withwooden rustic work* panels above. The floorwas covered in marble tiles, of which onlytraces remain, as they were removed due toplans to replace the floor as part of theoverall remodelling taking place in the building.

Reception room (oecus)

13 Perfectly symmetrical compared to theprevious room 12, this room has the samefunction and the same kind of painteddecorations.The two rooms are linked by a short corridor,also decorated in 4th style*, which crosses theback of the polygonal sitting room and acts asa landing.

Reception room (oecus)

14 The sector affected by the latest expansion ofthe villa centers around the pool, whose hugetub (61 x 17 m) shows certain technical details-such as being tilted southward to allow the waterto drain-that make it one of the best examplesof a structure dedicated to sport and personalcare in general.Among other things the pool was placed in aluxurious natural setting, surrounded bymeadows, trees and plants, where the owner methis need to combine vegetation and superiorcraftsmanship in a single context by including afew splendid white marble sculptures, excellentRoman copies of Greek originals.A portico originally stood along the western sideof the tub, onto which opened a series ofdifferent kinds of rooms, and whose inner wallwas decorated in 4th style* on a whitebackground, with a few supremely executeddecorative details (landscape paintings, plant andanimal elements). The work of remodelling thevilla involved rebuilding the roof and removingthe columns, which were not found in theiroriginal places but stored in another part of thebuilding.

Pool

15 Among the rooms that open onto the poolcolonnade, a core group of rooms at the northend stand out, especially due to their decorativesimplicity. The walls are covered with whitepainted backgrounds at the top, and red, yellowor black backgrounds in the lower portion,completely free of even the simplest decorationstypical of the 4th style* present in other rooms.This feature, along with the fact that these roomsare in a part of the building rather separate fromthe other rooms, for added privacy, has led us tobelieve that they were hospitalia, or rooms setaside for guests invited at various times of theyear to stay at this luxurious residence.

Hospitalia

16 The Villa of Poppea offers not only the lushgardens that were typically present in largeresidential villas, but also small indoor gardens,obviously roofless, with central flowerbedscontaining small or medium-sized plants, butwhose walls bear painted decorations depictingreal existing plant elements. Amid the lushvegetation, whose reproduction on the wallsechoes the illusionist realism of the 2nd style*,are other naturalistic elements such as birds, ortypical garden ornaments such as the fountaintubs, which enliven and enhance the decoration.The unusual configuration of this room isprobably due to its later inclusion in the series ofadjacent rooms, to which it was forced to adapt.

Viridarium*

17 Probably intended as a dining room, this room isperfectly symmetrical to the other sitting room19. Both rooms have a semicircular niche on theeast side, in which a sculpture was originallyplaced for decoration.The most striking feature of this sitting room isthe ceiling, which it was possible to rebuild, withvery few fragments, thanks to careful restoration. The decoration recalls the decorative patterns ofthe 4th style*, with the difference that, whilegeometric partitions are usually simply painted, inthis case they were physically rendered usingstucco frames and round or rhomboid undercutmotifs, which animate the surface to create afascinating alternation of light and shadow.

Sitting room

18

Sitting room

Observing the layout of the villa, notice how theoldest part of the building meets certain criteriaof symmetry, with the atrium representing themidpoint around which the various rooms werearranged.Although the most recent core of the buildingmeets less rigid, freer architectural standards,note that there is also symmetry in the row ofrooms overlooking the pool, of which this largesitting room is the center.The sitting room, opening onto the north gardenon the back through a large window, had wallscovered to a certain height with prized marble,while the floor was of sectile opus*, thus made upof marble tiles in various colors, of which only apart is visible today. The east side, opening ontothe portico around the pool, had two very tallcolumns that were removed, like those of theportico, for restoration.On the north and south sides two windowsopen onto square viridaria*, entirely similar toroom 16 above. In this case, a visitor standing inthe center of the room can enjoy the view ontwo sides of the succession of internal outdoorgardens alternating with indoor rooms, in anintriguing interplay of light and shadow.

19 As already mentioned, this room is absolutelyidentical to the previous room 17. The wallcovering consisted of colored marble on thelower part.Another viridarium*, this one extremely small, isvisible through a window on the south side. It isentirely similar to the others, both for thepresence of the flowerbed, and for the walldecoration. It should be emphasized that ownersof villas at the time were extremely sensitive tonaturalistic elements, whether real or reproducedin paintings, to the point where they would takeadvantage of even the smallest available space forthis purpose.

Sitting room

20 The main link between the residential core ofthe building, from an older period, and the more recent sector primarily dedicatedto personal care (thus the pool area) consists ofthis long corridor, quite wide and tall, along thewalls of which are placed two rows of benches,probably used by those waiting to access thepool or simply for resting.The ceiling of the room is divided by beams intosquare sections, decorated with large panels in4th style*, characterized by concentric geometricpartitions linked by garlands and other plantelements vegetation and embellished with detailssuch as animals, squares, and Medusa* heads, allrendered with great elegance and precision. Notonly the central panels are painted, but also thebeams and the tall windows that open onto theperistyle* 10.

Corridor

21 The walls of the shared latrine are completelycovered with white plaster : along the east, northand west sides were special bored shelves, builtinto the stonework and presumably made ofwood, below which ran a canal lined in signinumopus*. This canal made it possible to clean thesystem using the water contained in a tub placedat the entrance to the room.The same room holds another latrine, simpler instructure, placed along the south side andseparated by a masonry partition.

Latrine

22 This small internal peristyle*, previouslyincorrectly tagged as “servants' quarters” dueto the presence of a few rooms for servantsalong the east side, has several rooms ofvarious types on both the lower and upperfloors, the latter accessible by a staircase: theseare small rooms, simply plastered in white. Thedefinition of “servants' quarters” was probablyalso given due to the wall decorations, madeup of panels with grey and black stripes, oftenpresent in servants' rooms but also those forpatricians, as can be seen in this same villa inthe lower part of the walls in corridor 20.Actually, while the next room 23 faces thisperistyle*, and is certainly patrician, it shouldbe noted that as it is occupied in the centerby a viridarium* with fountain, it representsanother passageway between the actualresidential area and the pool zone. It includesrooms for servants, unlike other villas, wherethese were kept in an entirely separatesection.

Peristyle*

23 As already mentioned, this large, patricianroom opens onto the peristyle* 22. It is alararium, a room designed to hold the imagesof the lares, protectors of the house andfamily; worship ceremonies might be held intheir honor in this same room.The altar on which the images of devotion,generally consisting of marble or bronzestatues, were placed stood in a niche on thewestern side, and consists of a tall,monumental stone base covered with paintedplaster. Extremely interesting is the charredremainder of the wooden beam that stoodover the niche.The walls of the room are decorated withfrescoes in 4th style*, with a whitebackground, with fine architectural ornaturalistic decorative elements.

Lararium

24 Added later, along with the porticoesoverlooking the north garden, following thefirst construction stage that involved theatrium, the large sitting room-which probablyalso acted as an ample dining room-has twotall brick columns in front, covered with whiteplaster. The floor is a black and white mosaic,and has stylized plant motifs on the thresholdsbetween the columns. The walls are notcovered with anything: there were probablyplans to redecorate them once theremodeling work was finished. The remodellingitself is the reason for the presence of a fewcolumns, from the pool portico, moved fromtheir original site and placed along the walls ofthis room.The sitting room is flanked by twosymmetrical porticoes, with columns alsoplastered in white, inner walls decorated in4th style* with panels having a redbackground, yellow in the central area. To thewest one can see where the arm of theportico not yet uncovered extends to thewest, under what is now via Sepolcri.

Sitting room

25 The garden that presumably bordered the villato the north is immense: in addition to avariety of plant species that have beenidentified and replanted, it also contained anumber of marble sculptures, especiallyHerms* on pillars, whose brick bases stillremain. Lush and luxuriant, the viridarium* wasintended primarily for strolling and resting.On the east side are casts made of the rootsof tall trees, most likely sycamores.The hedge-lined boulevards converge in thenorth, where there was presumably a group ofsculptures or a fountain. This midpoint had tobe clearly visible to those arriving at theentrance to the villa, thus the atrium, as theendpoint of a perspective sequence ofarchitectural and naturalistic elements.

Viridarium*

Hesperides: daughters of theNight, in whose garden were theGolden Apple trees thatHercules, in one of his twelveassignments, had fetched andbrought to the King Eurystheusimpluvium: low basin in thecenter of the atrium in houses,into which rainwater flowedfrom the roof through thecompluvium* Medusa: mythical characterwhose key feature consisted ofsnakes for hairmosaic: floor or wall coveringconsisting of tiny stone or glasspaste tiles-black and white orpolychrome-arranged togetherto create geometric patterns orfigurative scenesopus craticium: economicalbuilding technique with squarewooden frames, filled with gravelbound using lime and mudsectile opus: floor or walldecoration made of marble tiles,outlining geometric or figurativepatternsperistyle: garden surrounded bycolonnade porticos first style: painted walldecoration (III-early 1st cent.BC), also known as 'structural',which imitates architecturalelements made in stucco anddecorated to imitate marble

Glossary

architrave: horizontal structuralelement resting on columns orpilastersrustic work type of wall coveringwith rusticated ashlars, stoneprojections that are deliberatelyrough-hewn, to highlight thechiaroscuro and volumessigninum opus: poweredterracotta, mixed with lime andsand, used to cover floors andwalls to keep out moisture compluvium: opening in thecenter of the atrium roof inhouses, which conveyed waterinto the impluvium*cubiculum: bedroom withvaulted niches in the walls, intowhich the beds were insertedcuspidate: terminating in aspire, a structural element that ispointed at the topHercules: Greek hero, son ofZeus and Alcmene, protagonistof undertakings frequentlydepicted in Greek and Romanworks of art Herm: sculpture on a taperedpilaster, depicting a bust or head,which takes its name from thepractice of depicting the godHermes (Mercury) in ancientGreece

Glossary

fourth style: painted walldecoration (second half of the1st cent. A.D.), also known as'fantastic', which amplifies thearchitectural fantasy of the'second style'* and thedecorative tone of the 'thirdstyle'*second style: painted walldecoration (early Ist-20 BC), alsoknown as 'architectural', whichpicks up the elements of the firststyle'* and develops them usingnot stucco but painting, makingthem increasingly complex,realistic, with sensitivity toperspective third style: painted walldecoration (20 BC-50 A.D.), alsoknown as 'ornamental', whichrigidly divides the surfacevertically and horizontally bymeans of architectural or plantor linear elements, in the centerof which are decorative motifsand decorated panelstriclinium: dining room, wherepeople ate while lying on cotsplaced around 3 sidesDelphic tripod: a tripod sacredto Apollo, divinity whose primaryplace of worship was in Delphi,in Greece“otium” villa: a residentialbuilding generally used for restor vacationviridarium: a garden area thatmight contain marble or bronzesculptures as well as plants andtrees

image and communicationsletterpress

photographsprinting

translations

Zelig

Luciano Romano

Castellammare di Stabiawww.nleditore.itStudio Essepi, Milan

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