Villa Poppea is attributed to Nero's wife due to an inscription painted on an amphora, addressed to Secundus, freedman of the empress. In any case, it certainly belongs to the rich heritage of the imperial family.

Villa Poppea was uninhabited at the time of the eruption: there were no furnishings in the rooms or pottery in the kitchen. The objects set aside in a few of the rooms, the building materials and the work in progress show that damage from one of the many earthquakes that frequently hit the area around Vesuvius was just being repaired.

Built around the middle of the first century BC, and then expanded during the Claudian era, Villa Poppea is surrounded by extensive gardens and has a spa district. The pictorial decor, which includes false doors and columns, correlates with the actual structure, creating perspectival games and correspondences between the real and the imaginary. The many high quality, detailed decorations feature masks, fruit baskets, torches and birds. There is also a painting of a dessert that bears an incredible resemblance to the traditional Sicilian cassata.

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Villa Poppea is one of the great houses that best represent the opulence and grandeur of ancient Rome.