Oplontis and Naples Archeological Museum

Meeting point wit our guide and the chauffeur at the hotel/ pier. By minivan drive southward along the Vesuvian plain to reach the roman patrician villa of Poppea in Oplontis, this suburban complex has only been partly excavated because the presence of the Sarno Canal obstructing the southern area, and the Way of Sepulchres and Fuse factory to the west.
The site re-emerged from a 6 metre-deep layer of earth made up of 2 metres of volcanic lapilli and sand from the eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 AD, and 4 metres of muddy conglomerates.
For its sculptural and painted decoration work, the Oplontis Villa is superior to all other suburban villas of this area. The paintings in the II style with their perfect state of preservation are considered among the best to have survived from the Roman world and can be admired on-site.
After lunch the guided tour into the National Archaeological Museum, the most important of the world for the roman fresco paintings and mosaics. - Originally a cavalry barracks, Charles of Bourbon established the museum in the late 18th-century to house the Farnese collection he inherited. The highlights include the Farnese Bull, a classical Roman sculpture depicting figures from Greek mythology.
The museum possesses an extraordinary collection of murals, frescoes and mosaics from Pompeii and Herculaneum.
On the way to Pompeii, you drive south on the motorway with views of Bay of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius, the still-active volcano that buried Pompeii in 79 A.D. Once in Naples, take a short orientation drive around the city; drive past the round-towered Castel Nuovo, San Carlo Opera House, Umberto I Gallery, the Royal Palace, San Francesco di Paola Church and the Castle of the Egg overlooking the spectacular Gulf of Naples. Return back to the cruise terminal.