Oplontis, 79 AD: colours on marble furnishing from the Villa of Poppaea

The so-called Villa of Poppaea in Oplontis (Torre Annunziata, Naples) was destroyed after the Vesuvius' eruption in 79 AD and it's nowadays one of the World Heritage Sites of UNESCO. The building was one if the richest in marble furnishing in the Roman world and the excavations were carried on mostly in the second half of the 20th century. In this paper, just a part of the sculptures and relief will be shown: a boy with a duck, a Centaur and a female Centaur, a Neo-Attic crater with "Waffentanzer", a Nike, a Ephebe, a crab (part of a bigger composition, not yet found) and a rubricated inscription. Some of the sculptures were set outside, along the Natatio, and others were fountainheads. The furnishing were analysed by means of transportable and totally non-invasive techniques. The analyses were performed using multispectral imaging techniques (Ultraviolet fluorescence photography, Visible photography, Visible Induced Luminescence) and single spot techniques (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and UV-VIS Fibre Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy). In addition, a portable digital optical microscopy was used for documenting the analysed areas and to obtain detail of the polychromy traces at higher magnification. By comparing the results obtained through imaging techniques with analytical data and archaeological researches, some new information about pigments and conservation history have been obtained, thus providing additional data to increase the knowledge of these marble decorations.