Boscoreale is a small comune 3 km north of Pompeii containing several important ancient Roman villas buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD. The main visitor attraction is Villa Regina — a working wine-producing estate preserved almost completely intact with its original wine press, storage dolia, and vineyard layout. The Antiquarium di Boscoreale museum displays artefacts from the surrounding excavations. Entry is free with a valid Pompeii Plus ticket or included in the 3-day circuit ticket.
Three kilometres north of Pompeii, in the slopes of Vesuvius where the best wine grapes in the region grow today as they did 2,000 years ago, lie the remains of several Roman agricultural villas that were buried by the 79 AD eruption. Unlike the urban grandeur of Pompeii or the domestic refinement of Herculaneum, Boscoreale shows the rural economic backbone of the Roman world — the wine estates, the pressing rooms, the storage cellars that kept the Roman empire supplied with its most important commodity. It also yielded one of the most spectacular treasure hoards from the ancient world, now dispersed across the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.
Top Tickets
# Entry Ticket with Audio Guide
# Guided Tour with an Archaeologist
# 2-Hour Small Group Tour
Table of Contents
The Villa Regina: A Working Roman Wine Estate
What is the Villa Regina at Boscoreale? The Villa Regina is a remarkably well-preserved Roman agricultural villa that functioned as a commercial wine-producing estate. Its most striking feature is the wine cellar, which still contains 18 large dolia (ceramic storage jars) set into the floor — each capable of holding hundreds of litres of wine. A restored vineyard surrounding the villa is replanted following the ancient pattern revealed by root cavity analysis.
The Villa Regina is the heart of the Boscoreale visitor experience and one of the most complete examples of a Roman agricultural operation anywhere in the ancient world. The eruption of 79 AD preserved it at almost the exact moment of harvest — and the finds from the villa tell a precise story of how wine was made and stored in the 1st century AD.
The Wine Cellar
The torcularium (pressing room) contains a wooden press, partially preserved. The adjacent cellar has 18 dolia — large terracotta storage jars set permanently into the floor — each capable of holding approximately 1,000 litres of wine. This setup — fermenting and storing wine in the same vessel it was pressed into — is the standard Roman method for lower-grade commercial wine production.
The Replanted Vineyard
The vineyard surrounding the villa has been replanted following the ancient layout reconstructed from root cavity analysis of the volcanic soil. The vine rows follow the exact spacing and orientation of the original 1st-century AD vineyard. Walking through the replanted vines gives an unusually direct connection to the agricultural life that supported Pompeii’s economy.
The Triclinium
The villa’s dining room (triclinium) includes a kitchen with a brick oven and vibrant wall murals. The quality of the decoration suggests the owner was a prosperous farmer rather than an aristocrat — successful enough for painted walls, but focused on production rather than display.
The Villa of P. Fannius Synistor
The Villa of P. Fannius Synistor was one of Boscoreale’s most important houses — and one of the most controversial episodes in the history of archaeological looting. Excavated between 1900 and 1901, the villa’s extraordinary Second Style frescoes were immediately removed from the walls and sold to private collectors and museums. The bulk of the paintings are now in:
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Room M and Room L wall paintings; a complete reconstructed cubiculum (bedroom) with its original three-wall fresco cycle — one of the most celebrated installations of ancient painting in any museum in the world
- The Musée du Louvre, Paris: Several significant panels
- Other collections: Fragments in various European and American museums
The villa site itself in Boscoreale has little to see — the paintings that made it remarkable are in New York and Paris. What Boscoreale preserves is the context: understanding why these paintings were made here, for whom, and what Roman agricultural life looked like around one of the most painted houses of antiquity.
The Villa of Pisanella
Excavated between 1895 and 1899, the Villa of Pisanella is the source of the Boscoreale Treasure — one of the most spectacular hoards of Roman silverware ever discovered. Found in a cistern, where the owner had hidden it before fleeing the eruption, the treasure comprised:
- 108 silver pieces including cups, bowls, ladles, and an extraordinary set of drinking cups decorated with philosophers, Epicurus, and a famous pair of cups with skeletons as symposium participants
- 1,037 gold coins — the largest gold coin hoard from any Vesuvian site
- Gold jewellery of exceptional quality
The treasure is now divided: the silver is in the Musée du Louvre (109 pieces, acquired in 1895) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (American share sold via dealers). The Louvre’s Boscoreale silver cup showing Epicurus seated among his followers is one of the most famous objects in the collection. The fact that the treasure’s owner never returned to retrieve it is one of the most affecting details in the entire story of Pompeii’s destruction.
Wondering how to reach Pompeii from different locations? Whether you’re coming from Rome, Naples, Amalfi, Sorrento, or Positano, we’ve gathered the best travel options to make your journey easy and hassle-free.
The Antiquarium di Boscoreale
The Antiquarium di Boscoreale is a museum adjacent to the Villa Regina that displays artefacts from the surrounding Vesuvian excavations — farming implements, domestic objects, ceramic vessels, frescoed panels, and explanatory material on Roman agriculture and daily life around Mount Vesuvius. It is included in the Pompeii Plus ticket and accessible via the free Pompeii Artebus shuttle from Piazza Esedra.
The Antiquarium functions as an introduction to the rural Vesuvian world that Pompeii’s urban grandeur can obscure. The everyday objects — the same tools, the same kitchen equipment, the same storage vessels — displayed with clear archaeological context tell the story of ordinary Roman life in the countryside around the volcano.
The MET Collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art houses several remarkable artifacts from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor, including wall paintings from Room M and L and even a reconstructed cubiculum (bedroom).
Practical Visitor Information
Tickets
Is Boscoreale included in the Pompeii ticket? The Antiquarium di Boscoreale and Villa Regina are included in the Pompeii Plus ticket (official €25 adult). They are also part of the 3-day combined ticket covering all five Vesuvian circuit sites (Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Boscoreale, Stabiae). Entry is also free with any valid Pompeii ticket within 30 days of issue.
- Free with: Any valid Pompeii ticket within 30 days
- Included in: Pompeii Plus ticket; 3-day combined circuit ticket
- Pompeii Artebus shuttle: Free shuttle from Piazza Esedra connects Pompeii to Boscoreale — check the schedule on pompeiisites.org
Opening Hours
- Summer (April–October): 9:00 am – 7:00 pm (last entry 5:30 pm)
- Winter (November–March): 9:00 am – 5:00 pm (last entry 3:30 pm)
Getting There
- Pompeii Artebus shuttle: Free with Pompeii Plus ticket; departs from Piazza Esedra
- By bus: Local bus from Pompeii town centre — approximately 10 minutes
- By car: 3 km north of Pompeii via Via Settetermini — approximately 6 minutes; parking available near the site
How Long to Allow
Allow 1.5–2 hours for Villa Regina, the replanted vineyard, and the Antiquarium together. Boscoreale is best combined with a Pompeii visit on the same day — the Plus ticket shuttle makes this seamless.
Is the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor worth visiting?
The villa site in Boscoreale itself is minimal — the paintings are in New York and Paris. For visitors seriously interested in the Boscoreale frescoes, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roman galleries in New York offer the most complete experience of this villa’s lost art.
