Freshly revealed “virgin surfaces” of Roman wall painting - pigments still largely untouched since antiquity - are emerging again at Villa Poppaea, part of the Oplontis complex in the modern town of Torre Annunziata near Pompeii. The find is not just about beautiful color; it offers rare, unaltered evidence of how elite Roman interiors once looked before centuries of cleaning, conservation, and fading changed them.
On a wet February morning, conservationists at the site carefully scraped away compacted volcanic deposits to expose panels of vivid red and other motifs - birds, fish, fruit, and a peacock linked with the goddess Juno - inside the villa’s oldest section, dated to the mid–first century BC. Site director Arianna Spinosa described the results as unexpectedly “numerous,” with colors “so vivid in their authenticity,” reports Phys.org
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Inside Villa Poppaea: A Palace Still Being Unearthed
Villa Poppaea, also called Villa A at Oplontis, has long been associated with Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of Emperor Nero. The villa was undergoing renovation when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, and the latest discoveries come from the earliest portion of the complex.
What makes the current work especially intriguing is how unfinished the story remains. Chief archaeologist Giuseppe Scarpati noted that only about 50–60% of the villa has been excavated so far, and its boundaries to the north, east, and west are still unknown, meaning more rooms (and more painted walls) could remain sealed under deposits.
View of the viridarium (ornamental garden) and tablinum (reception space) of the Villa Poppaea at ancient Oplontis in the modern city of Torre Annunziata, Italy. (Carole Raddato/CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
For context, Villa Poppaea is one of several elite and working complexes buried around Vesuvius, alongside sites like Pompeii and Herculaneum; it’s part of a wider landscape of Roman villas that still draw researchers precisely because catastrophic burial preserved decorations, objects, and building phases in place. World History Encyclopedia notes that systematic excavations at Villa Poppaea uncovered about 60% of the villa, with more than 100 rooms known so far.
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Statue of Poppaea in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, Greece. (Public Domain)
Why “Virgin Surfaces” Matter for Roman Art History
The phrase “virgin surfaces” might sound dramatic, but it points to something concrete: paint layers that have not been treated, consolidated, or heavily restored, preserving original pigment and surface quality for analysis. Spinosa emphasized that the newly exposed red panel carried “original, untreated pigments.”
That matters because Roman wall painting was not only decorative, it was a language of status. Conservator Elena Gravina highlighted that the team has identified pigments including bright red cinnabar and “Egyptian blue,” materials described as expensive and difficult to obtain, underscoring both elite wealth and far-reaching supply lines.
Elsewhere in the Vesuvian region, archaeologists have repeatedly found that wall painting isn’t just art; it’s evidence of renovation, craft organization, and how Roman homeowners shaped social spaces. Ancient Origins has previously reported on finds showing work in progress at the so-called Library House in Pompeii, including evidence linked with pigment preparation and painting activity interrupted by the eruption.
A Slow Reopening and a Rare Chance to Watch Conservation Live
Rather than waiting for everything to be “perfect,” the site is reopening in a controlled way: from now on, small groups (up to ten people) can visit Villa Poppaea each Thursday morning and see both the paintings and the scaffolding, conservation benches, and mud-streaked reality of preservation work. Spinosa said it was important to reopen as renovations near completion.
This kind of access is unusual, and it highlights a broader shift in how major archaeological parks engage the public: not just presenting finished rooms, but letting visitors see the painstaking in-between stage where fragments become evidence, and evidence becomes interpretation. With so much of the villa still unexcavated, Scarpati’s comment that “each excavation is a surprise” feels less like a slogan and more like a practical warning to anyone assuming the Vesuvian sites have already given up all their secrets.
Top image: Workers are restoring the luxurious 1st century BC residence of Poppaea Sabina. Source: France 24/YouTube Screenshot
By Gary Manners
References
Rabat, J. 2026. ‘Virgin’ frescoes emerge from Pompeii suburb. Available at: https://phys.org/news/2026-02-virgin-frescoes-emerge-pompeii-suburb.html
World History Encyclopedia. 2020. A Visitor’s Guide to Oplontis, Stabiae & Boscoreale. Available at: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1552/a-visitors-guide-to-oplontis-stabiae--boscoreale/
