(Pompeii) Recently restored remains of an opulent house in Pompeii that probably belonged to two former slaves who became wealthy through the wine trade offer visitors an exceptional insight into daily life in the Roman city.
The House of the Vettii, Domus Vettiorum in Latin, was officially inaugurated on Tuesday, after 20 years of restoration. Among the restored artifacts are frescoes of the iconic wall decoration of Pompeii, a thriving city that was buried under volcanic ash Vesuvius in AD 79.
The unveiling of the restored house is another sign of Pompeii’s rebirth, after decades of bureaucratic neglect, flooding and looting by thieves looking for artifacts to sell.
It delights tourists and experts looking for new information about one of the most famous remains of the ancient world.
“The House of the Vetti is like the history of Pompeii and in fact of Roman society in one house,” said Pompeii Director Gabriel Zuchtriegel during a visit by The Associated Press ahead of the public inauguration. .
“Here we see the last phase of Pompeian wall painting in incredible detail. So you can stay in front of these images for hours and still discover new details. »
Previous restoration work, which involved the repeated application of paraffin to the frescoed walls in the hope of preserving them, “has made them very hazy over time, as very thick and opaque layers have formed, which makes it difficult to “read” the fresco”, explained Stefania Giudice, director of the restoration of the frescoes.
But the wax made it possible to preserve them remarkably.
Mr Zuchtriegel ventured that the new “readings” of the fresco “reflect the dreams, imaginations and anxieties of the owners because they lived between these images”, which include Greek mythological figures.
And who were these owners? The Vetti were two men: Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus. As well as having parts of their names in common, they shared a common past – not as descendants of noble Roman families accustomed to opulence, but rather, according to Pompeii experts, almost certainly, as former slaves who were later freed.
It is believed that they grew rich through the wine trade. While some have speculated that the two were brothers, there is no certainty about this.
In the living room, called the Hall of Pentheus, a fresco depicts Hercules as a child, crushing two serpents, in an illustration of an episode in the life of the Greek hero. According to mythology, Hera, the goddess consort of Zeus, sent serpents to kill Hercules because she was furious that he was born from the union of Zeus with a mortal woman, Alcmene.
Pompeii Restoration Works Director Arianna Spinosa believes the restored house is “iconic of Pompeii. The residence “represents the Pompeian domus par excellence, not only because of the frescoes of exceptional importance, but also because of its layout and its architecture”.
Unearthed during archaeological excavations at the end of the 19th centurye century, the domus was closed in 2002 for urgent restoration work, in particular the shoring of the roof. After a partial reopening in 2016, it was closed again in 2020 for the final phase of the works, which included the restoration of the frescoes, the floor and the colonnades.