Pompeii

The terrible eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii on 24 August 79 A.D. has left posterity with the opportunity to appreciate and visit the city as it was presented to the ancient inhabitants shortly before the catastrophe. Pompeiians did not know that ‘Mount Vesuvius’ was a volcano.

Pliny the Younger, a guest in the house of his uncle Pliny the Elder, historian, scientist and commander of the Miseno naval base, left us a precious document describing the days of the eruption

My uncle was at Miseno where he commanded the fleet. On 24 August, in the early afternoon, my mother drew his attention to a cloud of extraordinary shape and size.
He had taken a sun bath, then a cold-water bath, had breakfast served in bed and was studying at the time. Having had his shoes brought, he went to an elevated place from where the phenomenon could be clearly contemplated.

A cloud rose high above, and was of such shape and appearance that it could not be compared to any tree better than to a pine tree.

For, rising as it did on a very high trunk, it then spread out in a kind of branching; and this, I suppose, because it was raised by the wind at the very time when it was formed, and then, when the wind gave way, abandoned to itself or overcome by its own weight, it spread widely through the air, dissolving little by little, now white, now sordid and stained, according as it carried earth or ashes with it.

To my uncle, who was a very learned man, all this seemed an important phenomenon and worthy of closer observation, so he ordered a liburnia to be prepared and offered me, if I wanted, to go with him…

The earthquakes that had preceded the eruption did not arouse the suspicions of the Pompeiians, who were still busy restoring the buildings affected by the strong earthquake 17 years earlier.

Pompeii, together with the neighbouring towns of Stabia, Herculaneum and Oplontis, offers the contemporary visitor an evocative and incomparable experience.

Strolling through the streets and alleys, looking into the various houses and workshops, visiting the temples and baths of 2000 years ago in an area of over 66 hectares … you can only do this in Pompeii.