House of Julia Felix

The House of Julia Felix is one of the largest private complexes in ancient Pompeii, spanning a full city block along the Via dell'Abbondanza near the amphitheater. A carved rental inscription — one of the few surviving Roman-era classified ads — records that owner Julia Felix advertised her baths, shops, and apartments for public lease, offering a rare window into the private economy of a Roman city on the eve of Vesuvius's eruption in 79 CE. When French excavators first opened the site in the 18th century, they uncovered a celebrated series of wall paintings depicting daily life in the forum, now held at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. Today visitors can walk the peristyle garden with its elongated ornamental fishpond, one of the best-preserved garden layouts in all of Pompeii.