Villa Arianna

About

Villa Arianna took its name from a large Ariadne fresco found on its walls and ranks among the oldest villas at Stabiae, its core dating to the 2nd century BCE. Its terrace commanded views across the Bay of Naples, and excavators uncovered frescoes of Flora and Artemis now in the Naples Archaeological Museum. Vesuvius buried the villa on 24 August 79 CE, 38 years before 117 CE.

What happened here

A working estate with a comfortable house attached, and the proportions vary with how rich the owner is and how often he visits. The farm side has presses for oil and wine, threshing floors, storage sunk into the ground, stables and quarters for the workforce. The residential side has baths, dining rooms sited for the view, mosaics, and a garden with water in it. A manager runs the place year-round and reports; the owner arrives for the vintage and for the summer. Produce goes to market or to the owner's town house, and the accounts are kept in detail. Some villas are pure retreat with no farm at all, built on a cliff or a lake specifically to be looked at from a boat.

Sources

• https://pompeiisites.org/en/stabiae-en-2/villa-arianna/