Hours
Hours are the Park’s listing for 15 October to 15 March, from its open-buildings page. They differ in summer. Each entry paraphrases the Park’s own page for that place, or its easy-reading guide where there is no page.
Roman houses in Pompeii followed a pattern: an entrance corridor, a courtyard (atrium) with a basin that collected rainwater (impluvium), rooms around it, and often a garden with columns (peristyle). The houses below show how different families used that pattern, from the very large to the very decorated.
House of the Faun
One of the larger houses in Pompeii, covering a whole block of about 3,000 square metres and dating in its original layout to the 2nd century BC. The pavement at the street door carries the Latin welcome HAVE, and the entrance floor is inlaid with coloured marble. There are two atriums and two peristyles. In the main atrium stands a copy of the dancing Faun statue, and a copy of the mosaic of the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius is in the room between the two peristyles. The originals are in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Look for: HAVE at the door, the Faun in the impluvium, the two peristyles. Park listing: 9:00 to 17:00. Marked with the Park’s accessible symbol.
House of the Vettii
One of the richest and most famous houses in the city. Priapus, god of prosperity, is painted to the right of the door, standing for the wealth of the owners, the brothers Aulus Vettius Restitutus and Aulus Vettius Conviva, who became rich through trade. A large garden full of statues with water jets is the focus of the house. In the room with the frieze of Cupids, the figures carry out trades of the time, from selling wine to making perfume. A graffito near the entrance records a prostitute who worked in the adjacent room, which has erotic paintings. Look for: The garden, the Priapus at the door and the Cupids frieze. Park listing: 9:15 to 16:20, last entrance 16:00. Some paintings are erotic.
House of the Golden Cupids
One of the most elegant houses of the Imperial era, arranged around a peristyle garden of the rare “rhodian” type, where the columns on one side are higher and topped with a pediment. The Park notes a large hall with high-quality mythological paintings and a mosaic floor, and a small chapel dedicated to Egyptian gods, with paintings of Anubis, Harpocrates, Isis and Serapis. The name comes from Cupids engraved on two gold medallions in a bedroom of the portico. Graffiti and a seal ring point to the owner as Gnaeus Poppaeus Habitus, a relative of Poppaea Sabina, Nero’s second wife. Look for: The high-columned side of the garden and the Egyptian chapel. Park listing: 9:15 to 16:20, last entrance 16:00.
House of Menander
A typical home of a high-ranking family. The atrium has frescoes with scenes from the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the house is named for a portrait of the Athenian playwright Menander in the portico. The Park mentions a small bath area and a basement where a box with 118 pieces of silverware was found, now in the Naples museum. The house belonged to Quintus Poppaeus Sabinus, of the family of Poppaea Sabina. Look for: The Iliad and Odyssey scenes in the atrium; the reconstructed wagon in the service area. Park listing: 9:15 to 16:20, last entrance 16:00.
House of the Tragic Poet
A house that keeps the traditional atrium layout. It is famous for the CAVE CANEM (“beware of the dog”) mosaic at the main entrance, now protected by glass. The atrium and tablinum had fine mosaics, including actors preparing for a play, which gave the house its name. The best known painting still on site shows Ariadne abandoned by Theseus. The originals of the mosaics and paintings are in the Naples museum. Part of Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel The Last Days of Pompeii (1838) is set here. Look for: The CAVE CANEM mosaic, the small lararium shrine in the peristyle. Park listing: 9:15 to 16:20, last entrance 16:00.
House of the Small Fountain
The layout lets you see the garden fountain straight from the entrance, which shows the owner’s status. The fountain is covered with coloured mosaics and shells and was decorated with a bronze fisherman and a cherub (the copy is shown). The garden walls carry landscape paintings made only a few years before the eruption, including a seaside town. Look for: The mosaic fountain and the seaside painting. Not on the Park’s open-buildings list when we checked, so confirm before planning around it.
House of Venus in the Shell
Built in the 1st century BC. The peristyle garden is its focus, and the back wall carries a large fresco of Venus lying naked in a shell, wearing a tiara and jewellery, with two cherubs. Below is a painted garden with exotic plants and animals. To the right birds drink from a fountain, and to the left stands a painted statue of Mars with spear and shield. The house belonged to a branch of the Satrii family. The Park also notes the oecus, the second largest after that of the House of Menander. Look for: The Venus fresco, best seen from the peristyle. Park listing: 9:15 to 16:20, last entrance 16:00.
Information from the Archaeological Park of Pompeii (pompeiisites.org), checked on 28 October 2026. Hours, closures and access change, so check the Park before you travel. This site is an independent guide and is not the official site.