It was the ancient Oplontis, with its luxurious residential complex destroyed by the eruption of 79 AD property of Poppea Sabina, second wife of Emperor Nero: it was brought to light with an excavation campaign started in 1964.
There, the eruption triggered a millennium of abandonment and the area was covered by a dense and dark bush, until Charles I of Anjou decided to donate some lands of the wood to Count Pandolfo of Saxony, who then gave it to the Abbey by Regal Valle. Then, during the reign of Charles II, some inhabitants asked the king to be granted some land for the construction of a church in honor of the Virgin of the Annunciation and a hamlet, near which the Torre dell’Annunciata was erected. Hence the name of the city, also known for a long time for its pasta factories. In fact, the first bronze-dies for making macaroni were already active in the 16th century.
Remaining on the subject of archaeological suggestions, an interesting stop, going inland, is that at the Antiquarium of Boscoreale, established in 1991 by the Archaeological Superintendency of Pompeii that houses findings from the sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Stabiae, Terzigno and Boscoreale. There are the emblematic characteristics of the Vesuvian environment in Roman times in a naturalistic and rural context, so much so that the route ends with a visit to a farm of the time, a remarkable experience from a didactic point of view.
