Villa Regina, Boscoreale
Less than two kilometres from the Pompeii entrance, the Villa Regina at Boscoreale is one of the least-visited yet most evocative sites in the entire Vesuvian area — a working Roman agricultural villa buried in AD 79 and excavated to reveal its complete wine-production cellar, dolia (giant storage jars) still embedded in the floor, and the bones of a mule found in its stable. Admission is included
Why it matters
Unlike the urban houses of Pompeii, Villa Regina gives you the rural, agricultural face of Roman Campania — the region was the wine-producing heartland of the empire, and this villa's torcularium (pressing room) with its intact wooden beam press is the clearest surviving illustration of how that wine was made.
The Antiquarium of Boscoreale next door holds treasures looted from nearby villas in the 19th century that ended up in the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum; the models and explanatory panels here help you understand what was lost and what survives.
The site is rarely crowded even in peak season — you may well have the excavated cellar entirely to yourself, which makes the experience of standing among those great terracotta dolia profoundly intimate.
Combining it with your Pompeii day
The villa is a 20-minute walk or 5-minute taxi ride from the Pompeii Scavi train station; it makes a logical first stop before the main site opens fully or a quiet late-afternoon add-on.
Opening hours mirror those of the main Pompeii park and the site is managed by the same Parco Archeologico di Pompei authority; your combined ticket covers entry with no additional cost.
The surrounding landscape of Boscoreale — flat market-garden fields below the volcano — has barely changed in character since antiquity, and walking between the two sites along the back roads past tomato greenhouses is a quietly surreal experience.
More of Pompeii (Campania)
Discover where to stay, what to do and the best deals for your trip.
Explore Pompeii (Campania) →
