Pompeii: Large fresco with pygmies and Nile animals restored in Casa dei Ceii

A large hunting scene fresco featuring pygmies and animals from the Nile Delta has been restored to its original brilliance in the garden of the Casa dei Ceii in Pompeii. The complex restoration, carried out by experts of the Parco Archeologico, used both laser and manual retouching to revive the bright colors and imaginative forms damaged by time, humidity, and past neglect. The team was led by Stefania Giudice, Luana Toniolo, and Raffaella Guarino. The fresco, an Egyptian-inspired landscape, reflects the owner's connection to Egypt and the cult of Isis, popular in Pompeii's final years. The Casa dei Ceii, excavated between 1913 and 1914, is a rare late-Samnite house (2nd century BC) attributed to magistrate Lucius Ceius Secundus. It features white stucco facade, cubic capitals, decorated plaster, fine floors, and a tetrastyle atrium with an impluvium made from amphora fragments—a technique found only in one other Pompeian house. Previous interventions under the Grande Progetto Pompei included rainwater management and roof repairs. The room has been sealed to prevent water infiltration.