Villa Oplontis & Stabiae: discover the Hidden Treasures with your Archaeologist

I’m glad we decided to see Villa Oplontis! It’s a very interesting experience - away from the crowds you get to see quite a lot: frescoes, mosaics, a beautiful garden with the exact trees planted using biological material from the excavations. And thanks to our wonderful guide we could visualise the life in Roman times, how the emperor’s wife would spend her time in her country house, entertaining guests with lavish parties and gladiator battles on boats in a giant pool the size of two Olympic swimming pools, or even bigger. Villa San Marco and Villa Arianna Stabiae gave even more insights (the frescoes from these two are at the Museo Archeologico in Naples - stunning).

This tour takes you away from the crowds of Pompeii and Herculaneum to visit three excavated villas that were also covered by the same eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Our tour guide, Arcangelo, is an expert on the amazing frescos from the time. The villa at Oplontis had a fascinating range of earlier and later fresco styles as it was undergoing a restoration at the time of the eruption. Arcangelo was personable, articulate, answered all our questions, and made our tour very enjoyable. The tour provides a very detailed view into life at the villas and the architecture and art of the period, and the personal attention from the small group tour allowed us to ask questions and learn much more than we did during our crowded Pompeii tour. Note that you need car transportation between these three sites since public transportation doesn't go there. As we didn't have a car in Italy, Viviana in the Grand Tour Experience office hired a driver to take us to the three sites. We had a wonderful driver, Alfredo, who picked us up at our prior destination, took us to all sites, and dropped us off at our hotel afterward. Viviana was very responsive and helpful and, with this arrangement, made this exceptional experience possible for us.

This villa is amazing well preserved Villa. Because is a Pompeian villa you must expect to see wonderful frescoes, perfect peezerved, a enchanting space leading you out of presrnt time

Really lovely tour with Livio. Unfortunately we weren't able to go to Stabiae because of a change in hours for the site (outside of the company's control and they contacted me promptly). The company offered a more in-depth tour of the villa at Oplontis instead, which I appreciated. I got a lot of thoughtful detail about the villa, as well as the area and Vesuvian sites in general. The villa itself is stunning and well worth the trip if you love Roman archaeology. Definitely glad I did this and would recommend this tour, just double check with the company before selecting your time slot.

What a splendid day trip with a fantastic guide. I had spent a week exploring Pompeii and Herculaneum on my own but after having read about these two Roman villas in Lonely Planet and elsewhere, I decided I needed a guide to give me the most details and insights into them. Both of these villas complement each other and help flesh out the human, artistic, and emotional tragedy or the Vesuvius eruption. The frescoes and art at both villas is simply stunning. Well worth taking--and my guide was super knowledgable and informative, pointing out small details I might have otherwise missed or glossed over. He was super generous, too, taking a few pictures and his time as I moved along with him. Great day trip and well worth it!