Pompeii and Herculaneum
true archaeological treasures that belong to the whole world
Pompeii and Herculaneum have become compulsory stops for millions of tourists from every part of the globe who are never disappointed by these archaeological treasures of world importance.
Pompeii is set on a hill at the mouth of the Sarno, just a few kilometres south of mount Vesuvius, between Herculaneum and Stabia.
Pliny the younger narrates the events of that morning of 24th August in the year 79 AD when Vesuvius erupted in what was an unprecedented historical tragedy
“an unforgettable calamity, Vesuvius could be seen shining from many places (…) as already the ash was raining down ever hotter and denser onto the ships as it got closer and pumice and pebbles blackened and split by the fire could be seen, and then the landscape and the beach was blocked by massive rocks spewn from the mountain…”
but what was the grim end for a city, followed by a succession of cultures over many centuries, has for us been a legacy for posterity as the splendours of those times have come to light preserved by the dust and rock of Vesuvius.
“That stretch of coast, due to its great beauty, was densely populated” (once again Pliny)
Pompeii and Herculaneum are two quite amazing treasure troves for the whole of humanity: they have enabled archaeologists to reveal in unprecedented detail the customs, art and lifestyles of successive populations, especially, but not only, those of Roman times…
Pompeii’s origins in fact date back even to pre-Roman times
The “gens pompeia” come from the Oscans, one of the first Italic peoples who made their first settlement there around the eighth century B.C.
It was therefore sought after land even before the Romanisation of social life and culture and its fertile and prosperous land was already famous for the production of wine.
Pompeii, buried for 2000 years beneath the dust of Vesuvius, revealed its majestic monuments as well as its frescoes, among which those of the famous “Villa of Mysteries”.
A city and a people have been re-awakened … see for example Pompeii’s Roman amphitheatre, the largest in the world, the Roman houses, the temple to Apollo, the Thermopolium of Asellina, the Sanctuary of the Genius of Augustus, the Square of the Fortune of Augustus, the House of the Faun, the largest house in Pompeii (which extends over an area of about 3000 sq. m), whose name was given it by the statue of the dancing faun.
Thanks to the excavations carried out in the Bourbon epoch, we have today a good idea of how Roman houses were decorated.
The thousands of scrolls unearthed have provided historians with invaluable information that tells us a great deal about the lives, the culture and the customs of the Romans.
Getting to know the streets and dwellings of Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum is a unique experience that is difficult to repeat anywhere in the world… you find yourself walking straight into the past and into the civilisation and lives of the ancient Romans.
It is no easy task to describe the beauties of Pompeii, since its history, art and culture are so complex, being also heir to the Etruscan culture and to decorative Greek art which in many ways is almost a preview of the painting of the high Renaissance.
It is a city that has been crystallised and conserved by its burial, unaffected by the erosions of time, so that we now have the privilege of being able to understand its origins and admire its buildings and monuments in uniquely well preserved condition.
