Villa dei Papiri

Currently closed, the Villa dei Papiri was the most luxurious villa in Herculaneum. Owned by Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Julius Caesar's father-in-law, it was a vast four-storey, 245m-long complex stretching down to the sea; there were swimming pools, fountains and a collection of up to 80 sculptures. There was also an important library, whose 1800 papyrus scrolls lend the villa its name. Most of the carbonised scrolls are now in Naples' Museo Archeologico Nazionale.