Treasures rise from the ground before the eyes of visitors in Pompeii

Kneeling on the ground, a restorer delicately scrapes with a scalpel the final layer of ashes covering the base of a bright red fresco: in the villa of Poppea, near Pompeii, the latest excavations are now accessible to the public on Thursday morning. New spaces, and their sumptuous painted decorations, of the residence of the second wife of the Roman emperor Nero can be visited by small successive groups of ten people maximum, who witness the work of the archaeologists live.

Under the high scaffolding supporting a sheet metal roof, beyond the already developed spaces on the site, a narrow passage allows you to enter the heart of the site where pickaxes, scrapers and wheelbarrows are at work. “Every search is a surprise. We certainly expected to find some of the frescoes that we could see on the other wall, but the surprises were much more numerous,” Arianna Spinosa, the architect who is leading the project, explains to AFP.

“So it’s important to start reopening the villa and show everyone what’s happening, what you can’t see from the outside” and “which is wonderful,” she adds. The luxurious villa of Oplontis – named after the ancient suburb of Pompeii where it was located before being buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. BC, was a pleasure residence of Poppea.

At the time of the eruption, the villa, which then faced the sea, was in the restoration phase, but it is in its oldest part, dating back to the middle of the 1st century BC. JC that the latest discoveries took place. Among them, on a bright yellow decorative frieze appear the legs of a graceful bird with only its head missing.

This peahen recently released into the open air now faces, in the main living room of the villa, a peacock, unearthed during previous excavations, next to a theater mask, on the mirrored wall, “one of the most representative and iconic spaces of this villa”, according to Ms. Spinosa. The peacock, sacred animal of the goddess Juno, “is one of the motifs which recurs very often in the decoration of the villa”, explains Giuseppe Scarpati, chief archaeologist of the site, to AFP.

Here, “the peacocks are perched on a balustrade, in front of the entrance to a sanctuary identified as a sanctuary of Apollo,” he adds. But beyond the subjects of incredible finesse – birds, fish, fruits – emerging on the panels, it is the brilliance of their colors, some preserved in their original state, which is striking.

“This bright red panel carries original, untreated pigments, therefore preserved in their authenticity” and “finally having virgin surfaces in front of us allows us to considerably broaden our knowledge,” continues Arianna Spinosa. “The Villa of Poppea is one of the suburban and maritime villas which have always been distinguished by exceptional quality, both in design and in painting,” explains Elena Gravina, the chief restorer, to the very first visitors to the construction site.

“We identified, not only here but throughout the villa, cinnabar (red), Egyptian (blue), these are pigments which, at the time, were very expensive and difficult to obtain, and which testify to the commercial relationships, the wealth of the sponsors, as well as the skill and know-how of the artisans,” she notes. Absorbed by the sumptuous painted decor of the cubicle (small room) and its stucco-decorated vault, this is the first time that Michele Iovine, 52, a regular at the site, has been able to interact with restaurateurs.

“I saw this cubicle many times before the restoration work, then it was closed. Now, it is certainly more readable, it has regained its original colors, it is highlighted as much as possible,” he told AFP. But while only 50 to 60 percent of the overall extent of Poppaea’s villa has arguably been excavated so far, the excavations should not stop there. “We do not know its limits in the North, East or West. Potentially, the villa could therefore still have many surprises in store for us,” concludes Mr. Scarpati.