The old house, with its famous frescoes of 12 mythological scenes, has been restored.
The House of the Vettii, known as Pompeii’s Sistine Chapel, has reopened to the public for the first time in 20 years after extensive restoration.
Built in the 2nd century BC, the residence was buried after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
It is named after its owners, the Vettii brothers, two former slaves.
Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus became rich selling wine after their release.
The house is adorned with frescoes depicting mythological scenes and houses Greek and Roman sculptures.
In one of the paintings, Priapus, the Greek god of fertility and abundance, can be seen weighing his own phallus against a bag of money.
Excavation work, carried out between the end of 1894 and the beginning of 1896, showed that the old Roman house, built on the ruins of a previous house, had survived the eruption of the volcano.
“The owners, freedmen and former slaves, are the expression of a social mobility that would have been unthinkable two centuries earlier,” explained Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park.
He added that the brothers got rich trading with agricultural products from the surroundings of Pompeii, and assured that prostitution was also practiced in that place.
The ornate furniture inside the house, as well as the sculptures in bronze and marble, offer a glimpse into the lifestyle of the elites of old.