The wonderful city of Pompeii has much to offer tourists and travellers and you should also discover the most hidden secrets and the excavations, the villas for example, telling the story of people, of an era and deserving much attention. The otium villas found in Pompeii were built in a suburb, then called Augustus Felix Pagus Suburbanus and today correspond to the territories of Boscoreale, Boscombe and Terzigno.

The Imperial Villa

It lies in the vicinity of Porta Marina and it was discovered in 1943. This is a large structure built without planning permission at the end of the first century BC, near the temple of Venus, which was greatly damaged by the earthquake of 62 and later restored. The construction is preceded by a long porch, full of chapels, about 90 meters long, while the triclinium is the largest found in Pompeii and has pictorial cycles in the fourth style, although there are examples of painting in the third style, which artists maintained during renovation.

The Villa of Julia Felix

Located near the Porta Sarno, it was explored between 1755 and 1757 and then again between 1953 and 1953. The house, which following the earthquake of 62 was partially rented, is formed by a double atrium, peristyle with a central pond and an altar dedicated to Isis and a triclinium, which was once a cave, from which water flowed through a system of waterfalls ending in the wide garden

Villa Diomede

It is one of the most important villas of Pompeii. In the underground porch about 18 victims were found. A large outdoor terrace overlooks the garden below the square, the largest of Pompeii, equipped with swimming pool, fountain, summer dining room and portico.

Villa of the Mysteries

With a tour in Pompeii you will never give up on the visit of this villa to which the ruins owes are a lot of their fame. The planimetric distribution of the interiors is characterized by beautiful paintings. The original core of the residence dates from the first half of the century. BC II, but was remodelled around 60 BC and adapted to the country villa in the imperial age. The third style decoration of the tablinum and pieces of landscape paintings in the lobby are a sort of introduction and preparation for the series of paintings in the triclinium to the right of tablinum; the largest one coming from the ancient time was built by an artist from Campania opened to the influences of Greek paintings from the classical and Hellenistic time: Dionysus and Ariadne on a throne act as a pivot of the Orphic-Dionysian rites representation, depicted in various stages over a sort of podium and with a fake marble inlay on the background.

The existence of other villas is known because they were explored during the Bourbon period, to be robbed of the objects and paintings, or found accidentally, but then later reburied:

The Villa of Cicero, located just outside the Porta Herculaneum, was excavated in 1763 and several frescoes and two mosaics, made by Dioskourides of Samos, in opus vermiculatum were rescued.

The Villa T. Siminius Stephanu, near Porta Vesuvius, returned the mosaic depicting the Academy of Plato.

The building of Tricilini, discovered in the locality of Moregine, in 2000.

Consider to visit Pompeii and do not exclude these wonders from your itinerary.