---
title: "House of the Vettii VI.15.1 - Pompeii Online"
description: "The House of the Vettii VI.15.1 is among Pompeii’s best-preserved domus, renowned for its Fourth Style paintings, sculpture-filled garden and Cupid frieze."
url: "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/buildings-and-places/regio-vi/house-of-the-vettii-vi-15-1"
date: "2026-09-16T12:49:23+00:00"
language: "en-GB"
---

#  House of the Vettii VI.15.1

The **House of the Vettii**, in Pompeii’s Regio VI, is one of the ancient city’s most celebrated and best-preserved domus. Its exceptionally rich paintings, sculptures and garden illuminate not only the luxury of Pompeian houses in the 1st century AD, but also the profound social changes that shaped the city in the final decades before the eruption of AD 79.

The house is traditionally attributed to **Aulus Vettius Conviva** and **Aulus Vettius Restitutus**, two freedmen—formerly enslaved men who had gained their freedom—who achieved considerable economic prosperity. Their wealth is generally associated with commerce, probably including trade in agricultural produce and wine. Aulus Vettius Conviva also attained a prestigious civic position as a member of the Augustales, the college connected with the imperial cult.

The owners’ wealth is proclaimed at the very entrance. On the vestibule’s right-hand wall is the famous image of Priapus, god of fertility and abundance, weighing his enormous phallus against a money bag on a balance. The painting immediately associates fertility, prosperity and wealth and has become one of the best-known images from Pompeii.

### A house centred on its garden

The House of the Vettii developed from earlier structures and differs in plan from the traditional Pompeian aristocratic domus. During a major renovation, the large tablinum normally placed on the atrium axis was removed. Greater emphasis was instead given to the peristyle and garden, which became the residence’s true visual centrepiece.

From the atrium, which also contained large iron-clad strongboxes with bronze fittings, the view was directed towards the colonnaded garden. The house’s most richly decorated reception rooms opened around this space.

The garden was one of the residence’s most spectacular areas. Marble and bronze statues, basins and small fountains stood among the flower beds, supplied by a complex network of pipes. Water, sculpture, columns and vegetation transformed the peristyle into a setting designed to impress guests and proclaim the owners’ status.

### Frescoes and mythological narratives

The fame of the House of the Vettii rests above all on its exceptional ensemble of **Fourth Style** paintings, among the best preserved in Pompeii. Walls with intense red, yellow and black grounds are articulated by fantastic painted architecture and large mythological panels.

The different rooms depict episodes drawn from Greek and Roman mythology: gods, heroes, love affairs, punishments and tragic events created a cultivated, refined setting in which guests could recognise stories familiar throughout the ancient world.

The quality of the paintings shows how much the owners invested in decorating their residence. The house did not merely imitate older aristocratic homes; it used luxury, art and mythological learning to display a recently acquired social position.

### The celebrated Cupid frieze

One of the most famous rooms opens on the northern side of the peristyle. It contains the celebrated frieze of Cupids and Psyches, small figures engaged in a wide variety of productive and commercial activities.

The Cupids harvest grapes, make and sell wine, prepare perfumes, weave flower garlands, work metal, produce jewellery, weave cloth, wash garments and bake bread. The frieze offers a lively, idealised image of the world of work while also referring to the economic activities on which Pompeii’s prosperity depended.

The special prominence given to grape harvesting and winemaking is particularly significant. These were fundamental to the economy of the Vesuvian region and were probably also connected with the Vettii’s commercial interests.

### The household shrine and service quarters

The house also preserves evidence of everyday religious life. Near the kitchen is a painted lararium, the small household shrine where the protective deities of the family and home were worshipped.

The scene shows the Genius, the protective spirit of the head of the household, flanked by the Lares; below appears the snake associated with domestic prosperity.

This part of the residence also reveals a very different aspect of Pompeian society. Erotic paintings survive in a small room near the kitchen, which may have been used for paid sexual encounters.

This interpretation has been linked to a graffito in the vestibule mentioning a Greek woman called Eutychis, offered for two asses. The room’s function cannot be established with certainty, but these details are a reminder that behind the splendour of the reception rooms lay the world of the servants and enslaved people who lived and worked in the house.

### Restoration and reopening

The House of the Vettii was brought to light between **1894 and 1896**. The exceptional preservation of its frescoes immediately made the domus one of Pompeii’s most famous monuments, although 20th-century interventions also created complex conservation problems.

Some paintings were formerly treated with layers of wax intended to brighten their colours and protect the surfaces. Over time, these treatments proved harmful, obscuring details and impairing the legibility of the images.

Following a long and complex restoration project, the house reopened fully to the public in **January 2023**, after approximately twenty years during which it had either been closed or only a limited number of rooms could be visited.

The work addressed the roofs, structures, floors and the entire painted decoration. Copies of the ancient sculptures were returned to the garden, while plant species compatible with those cultivated in the Roman world were reintroduced, restoring something of the peristyle’s original visual effect.

Today, the House of the Vettii is one of the most important places for understanding Pompeii: a residence in which **art, wealth, commerce, religion, slavery and social mobility** coexist within the same spaces, offering an exceptionally complete picture of urban society on the eve of Vesuvius’s eruption.

###  Further information

[Pompeiiinpictures](https://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R6/6%2015%20001%20service.htm) Detailed images of the building

###  Video

 The House of the Vettii before restoration

###  Plan

![Pompeii – House of the Vettii plan](https://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R6/6%2015%2001%20plan%20v2.jpg "Pompeii – House of the Vettii plan")

![Loading...](https://www.pompeionline.net/components/com_zhosmmap/assets/utils/loading.gif)

[View all buildings and places on the map](https://www.pompeionline.net/en/buildings-and-places)

'+ '

'; var titlePlacemark75900000000000 = "House of the Vettii VI.15.1"; var latlng75900000000000 = L.latLng(40.75204, 14.48471); map\_bounds\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.extend(latlng75900000000000); var contentString75900000000000 = ""; contentString75900000000000 = '' + '### '+ 'House of the Vettii VI.15.1'+ '

'+ ''+ ''+ '

'+ ''+ ''+ ''+ '[![Article](https://www.pompeionline.net/components/com_zhosmmap/assets/utils/article.png)](https://www.pompeionline.net/en/buildings-and-places/regio-vi/house-of-the-vettii-vi-15-1 "Article")'+ '

'+ '

'+ '

'+ '

'; var marker75900000000000 = L.marker(latlng75900000000000, {icon: L.icon({ iconUrl: icoIcon + "pompei-marker-cerchio-blu-bordo-bianco-18.png", iconSize: \[18, 18\], iconAnchor: \[9,18\]}) , draggable: false, title:"House of the Vettii VI.15.1" }); marker75900000000000.addTo(map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map); marker75900000000000.zhomRating = 0; marker75900000000000.zhomCreateddate = ""; marker75900000000000.zhomExtraFieldsList = \[\]; marker75900000000000.zhomCreateddateUser = ""; marker75900000000000.zhomPlacemarkID = 75900000000000; marker75900000000000.zhomContactAttrs = userContactAttrs; marker75900000000000.zhomUserContact = "0"; marker75900000000000.zhomUserUser = "0"; marker75900000000000.zhomOriginalPosition = latlng75900000000000; marker75900000000000.zhomInfowinContent = contentString75900000000000; marker75900000000000.zhomTitle = "House of the Vettii VI.15.1"; marker75900000000000.zhomIncludeInList = 0; marker75900000000000.bindPopup(marker75900000000000.zhomInfowinContent); marker75900000000000.on('click', function(event) { this.openPopup(); }); zhomObjMgr\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.PlacemarkAdd(0, 75900000000000, marker75900000000000, null); map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.setView(latlng75900000000000, map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.getZoom()); latlng\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map = latlng75900000000000; routedestination\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map = latlng\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map; var contentPathString11 = ""; var imgGroundBounds11 = \[ \[40.746791, 14.475589\], \[40.754898, 14.499171\]\]; var imgGroundOptions11 = { opacity:1 , interactive:false }; var imgGroundLayer11 = L.imageOverlay('https://www.pompeionline.net/images/mappe/pompei\_master\_joomla\_v2.svg', imgGroundBounds11, imgGroundOptions11); imgGroundLayer11.zhomPathID = 11; imgGroundLayer11.zhomInfowinContent = contentPathString11; imgGroundLayer11.zhomTitle = "Pompeii site plan – English map"; imgGroundLayer11.addTo(map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map); var geolocationControl = new zhomGeolocationButtonControl("\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map",map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map,2,1,2,"geolocation","Location",16,16,"https://www.pompeionline.net/components/com\_zhosmmap/assets/utils/geolocation.png"); var mapcenterControl = new zhomMapCenterButtonControl(latlng\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map,"19",map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map,2,2,2,"mapcenter","Home",19,16,"https://www.pompeionline.net/components/com\_zhosmmap/assets/utils/home.png"); map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.fitBounds(map\_bounds\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map); var toShowLoading = document.getElementById("OMapsLoading\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map"); toShowLoading.style.display = 'none'; zhomObjMgr\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.InitializeByGroupState(); }; function PlacemarkByIDShow(p\_id, p\_action, p\_zoom) { alert("This feature is supported only when you enable it in map menu item or module property!"); } function findMyPosition\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map(AutoPosition, DirectionsDisplay, DirectionsService, Marker, SearchTravelMode, LocationDestination) { if (navigator.geolocation) { browserSupportFlag = true; navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function(position) { initialLocation = L.latLng(position.coords.latitude,position.coords.longitude); map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.setView(initialLocation, map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.getZoom()); if (AutoPosition == "Button") { if (typeof geolocation\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map === 'undefined') { geolocation\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map = L.marker(initialLocation, {draggable:false}); geolocation\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.addTo(map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map); } else { geolocation\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.setLatLng(initialLocation); } } }, function() { handleNoGeolocation(browserSupportFlag); }); } else { browserSupportFlag = false; handleNoGeolocation(browserSupportFlag); } }; function handleNoGeolocation(errorFlag) { if (errorFlag == true) { alertContentString = "Error: The Geolocation service failed"; } else { alertContentString = "Error: Your browser doesn't support geolocation"; } popup\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.setLatLng(map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map.getCenter()) .setContent(alertContentString) .openOn(map\_com\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map); }; function initializeZhOMPLG\_ARTICLE\_OVERVIEW759() { initializecom\_content\_article\_759\_0\_8\_map(); }; var tmpJQZhOMPLG\_ARTICLE\_OVERVIEW759 = jQuery.noConflict(); tmpJQZhOMPLG\_ARTICLE\_OVERVIEW759(document).ready(function() {initializeZhOMPLG\_ARTICLE\_OVERVIEW759();}); /\*\]\]>\*/

## Schema

```json
{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://www.pompeionline.net/en" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Buildings and Places", "item": "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/buildings-and-places" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Regio VI", "item": "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/buildings-and-places/regio-vi" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "House of the Vettii VI.15.1", "item": "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/buildings-and-places/regio-vi/house-of-the-vettii-vi-15-1" } ] }
```