Outside the walls of Pompeii, a few hundred metres from the Herculaneum Gate, stands a villa that holds one of the strangest paintings in the Roman world. The Villa of the Mysteries was a large country house and wine estate, and in one of its rooms a continuous frieze, nearly life-sized, runs around all four walls against a vivid red background, the famous Pompeian red. The figures include women, a young initiate, a satyr, a winged figure with a whip and the god Dionysus himself, and they seem to show a ritual of initiation into his cult, though nobody has ever been sure of the exact meaning. The paintings date from about the middle of the first century BC, some decades before the eruption.
The villa is a good place to see how the wealthy of Pompeii lived outside the crowded town. It had a terrace facing the bay, rooms for guests, a wine press room with a large wooden press, and a cellar with big storage jars in the ground. The vineyards of the area were famous in antiquity, and some modern growers have replanted Roman varieties on the slopes of Vesuvius nearby. Walking through the villa in the early morning, with sun lighting the faded frescoes and a smell of dust and warm stone, feels like being let into a private house.
For the ride, the route from the main site to the villa is a short, flat one, along roads that are busy and bumpy. Pompei and Boscoreale are both towns of around twenty-five thousand people, so fuel and food are not a problem, and Torre Annunziata and Naples are close. Boscoreale has its own Roman villa, with a wine press and a museum. A coffee in the old centre, with a sweet pastry, is a good start to the day. The summer heat is intense, so go early, and keep your jacket on in traffic.
If you have an afternoon, the road up Vesuvius from Boscoreale or Terzigno is a rewarding climb through pine woods and lava beds, with views of the whole bay. Check the opening hours and weather first, and bring a layer, since it is cooler at the top.