Villa Poppaea

Villa Poppaea

The Villa Poppaea as seen from the garden in front
Alternative name	Villa Oplontis, Villa A
Location	Torre Annunziata, Province of Naples, Campania, Italy
Coordinates	40°45′26″N 14°27′9″E / 40.75722°N 14.45250°E / 40.75722; 14.45250
Type	Roman villa
Part of	Oplontis
Site notes
Management	Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei
Website	Oplontis (in Italian and English)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Torre Annunziata
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv, v
Designated	1997 (21st session)
Reference no.	829-006
Region	Europe and North America

The Villa Poppaea is an ancient luxurious Roman seaside villa (villa maritima) located in Torre Annunziata between Naples and Sorrento, in Southern Italy. It is also called the Villa Oplontis or Oplontis Villa A^[1] as it was situated in the ancient Roman town of Oplontis.

It was buried and preserved in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, like the nearby cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, about 10 m (33 ft) below modern ground level.

The quality of the decorations and construction suggests that it was owned by the Emperor Nero and a pottery shard bearing the name of a freedman of Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of the emperor Nero was found at the site, which suggests the villa may have been her residence when she was away from Rome and which gives it its popular name.^[2]

It was sumptuously decorated with fine works of art.^[3] Its marble columns and capitals mark it out as being especially luxurious compared with others in this region which usually had stuccoed brick columns.

Many artifacts from Oplontis are preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.