Pompeii, Italy

The sight of this ancient city is located about 20 miles southeast of Naples, and was actually once a very thriving commercial center and even resort. Founded in 600 BC, Pompeii reached the height of its golden era with a population of over 20,000 citizens, which was sadly, put to an end by the eruption. Today Pompeii’s ruins are an archaeological gold mine and some of the most famous in the world. The volcanic ash that buried the city was several meters deep and covered everything but the roofs of some of the taller buildings. While the city was abandoned and forgotten, the ash worked to almost perfectly freeze or crystallize the city and its people in time.



The ruins were found to include artwork, artifacts and buildings and were amazingly well preserved. They offered an astoundingly accurate portrayal of life in Rome in the first century AD. During the initial excavations of the site there were found to be numerous spaces in the thick layer of ash where actual human remains were discovered. Those in charge of the dig decided to fill these spaces with plaster and what was emerged was an extremely detailed and eerie depiction of the last moments of life of the residents of Pompeii that didn’t make it out. On many of them, you can see the horrible expressions of terror and panic on the faces of these bodies.

On a tour of these ruins you will get a very good feeling of the everyday life of this and many other ancient Roman cities. You can enter the villas of the rich and wealthy as well as tour the shops, inns, restaurants, and bakeries that made up this fascinating city. Not to mention the Grande Theater; which because it was so well preserved is still used for performances to this day, the Amphitheatre; which is one of Italy’s oldest from 80 BC, and the Gladiator’s Barracks. But no stop to this city is complete without a stop at the city Brothel. It is one of the most trafficked areas on the tour and the most popular site in Pompeii, with its many interesting and erotic paintings that depict the different and various services offered by its many prostitutes.

On any trip to Italy take some time to see this ancient city, there’s no where else like it in the world. Also while Pompeii is a wonderful archaeological find and an extremely enriching place to visit, but is very large and can be very exhausting to tour. It would be very wise to allow yourself a full day to see all the amazing things this sight has to offer. I’d recommend hiring a professional tour guide, or perhaps purchasing a guide book so you can focus on the highlights of the city, or visit every exhibit this place has to show. Pompeii can be easily reached from Naples by taking the Circumvesuviana rail line that runs between Naples and Sorrento. You should get off at the Pompeii Scavi station, from there busses run from Naples to Salemo and stop at Pompeii regularly. If traveling by car you can take the Pompeii exit from Autostrada A3. Have fun on your trip, and remember Pompeii, a city frozen in time.

Pompeii and Vesuvius

Volcanoes have always held a ‘fatal fascination’ – in every sense of the word! And Mount Vesuvius is certainly no exception! Viewed across the bay from the port of Naples, and seen by day beneath the bright rays of the sparkling sun, its barren, brooding contours can look almost beautiful. But seen at dusk beneath a black sky, while bleakly rising above the muted lights of the port of Naples’, it exudes an air of menace, and imparts an awesome aura of fear that’s positively spine chilling. And such figments of fear can never be totally relegated to the realms of fantasy. For Vesuvius is justly regarded as a fearsome sight, not necessarily in appearance but in the context of the devastation that it’s wreaked in the past……….

And yet the sight of Vesuvius – be it by day or by night – still retains that air of ‘fatal fascination’. Vesuvius it is claimed ‘imparts fear and unease even before it is identified for what it is’. And what it does in reality symbolise is that it is a volcano that is still active! And it’s believed that were it to suddenly erupt, as many as 500,000 people’s lives could be in danger. However, being an active volcano, it’s claimed that Vesuvius is ‘one of the most studied and closely monitored volcanoes in the world’. Vesuvius last erupted in March 1944, and although a whole village was destroyed, not a single life was lost…….

Ironically, Vesuvius’ 1944 eruption coincided with the landing of the Allied Troops, who had just occupied Naples. And according to history, 88 of their bombers, stationed in a particular landing field, were destroyed by falling ash. However, it’s claimed that the Allies managed to help evacuate as many as 15,000 inhabitants who were living in the villages affected by the 1944 volcano.

It is possible to ascend Vesuvius from Naples by travelling along a road either by car or by a bus that leaves Naples twice daily. The road ends at a car park where bars and souvenir shops abound. Reaching the crater from here involves a half hour walk along what is described as a somewhat ‘slippery terrain’. From this point one is able to look down at the Vesuvius crater and absorb an uninterrupted view of its grim glory. It was the eruption in 79 AD that destroyed Pompeii and also Herculaneum. Despite the fact that Vesuvius has had 18 subsequent violent eruptions since that date, it is the ruins of Pompeii that seem to draw tourists in their thousands.

It is claimed that the people of Pompeii were not killed by the ensuing lava but ‘by the clouds of toxic gas, lapillus and various particulate matter that rolled over the city, incinerating everything in their path’. Both Pompeii and Herculaneum can be reached by a train service from Naples known as the ‘Circumvesuviana’ Line. And, in my opinion this means of transport would seem to be distinctly preferable to the ‘road route’. One is recommended to visit Pompeii either during early spring or early autumn. My visit to Southern Italy coincided with the beginning of September, which I presume would constitute ‘early autumn’. Certainly the area did not seem to be over-run with tourists.

I had read that Pompeii had been severely damaged by an earthquake in 62 AD, and had been in the process of being fully reconstructed when the city was totally buried by Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 AD. And it was more than a thousand years later – in the year 1513 that some of Pompeii’s ruins were rediscovered. But it was not until the year 18690 that the site was totally excavated. Visiting Pompeii represents an unforgettable experience. It’s like leaving the ‘Land of the Living’ to view the ‘world of the Dead’. It was almost like walking in the shadow of the dead…………

Considered to be one of Pompeii’s highlights is Villa dei Misteri,, famous for the extraordinary cycle of frescoes which can be located in the ‘triclinium’ (dining room). The cycle, which is 56 feet long and 10 feet high is described as ‘the largest painting from antiquity ever found’. From the outside the building seems to resemble a ruin, a fact that renders it interior all the more startling.

Particularly spectacular is ‘the House of Faun’ (Casa del Fauno). This is described as a ‘luxury villa’, having four ‘triclinia’ (dining rooms) – one for each season of the year. It also has a small bath, whose hot water it is claimed was derived from the heat of the oven in the nearby kitchen. The villa was named after the statue of a ‘dancing faun’ which dominated one of the mosaic courtyards. While the statue of a fawn still stands on the site, the present figure is a ‘copy’ - the original faun being on display at the ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale’ in Naples.

Numerous other archaeological finds from Pompeii likewise have been transferred to this museum including a spectacular picture entitled ‘Bacchic Celebrations’, which, it is claimed, ha retained its freshness and colour despite being buried in ash for several centuries. The same museum also houses what used to be called ‘Gabinetto Segreto’ (Secret Room) and which has now been opened to the public under the title of ‘Pompeiian Erotica’!

It’s believed that there were a total of 25 brothels in Pompeii, one of which, described as the city’s ‘official brothel’ and named ‘Luparan Africani et Victoris’, can be located near the Forum. It’s claimed that at that time ‘prostitution and homosexuality’ were simply regarded as ‘ordinary aspects of daily life without any stigma of shame’.

Of particular historical interest was the building known as Casa del Chirugo (House of the Surgeon) – one of Pompeii’s oldest edifices. Here as many as 40 surgical instruments were found – including forceps and ‘pliers to pull out teeth’. All of these items too are on display at the ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale’ in Naples.

Not to be missed was the world’s ‘oldest surviving Amphitheatre’, which was said to have seated 20,000 spectators.

Walking along a typical Pompeii ‘street scene’ proved to be a particularly ‘spooky’ experience. Ash stained ‘roofless’ walls typified each building that lined the avenue, symbolising restored ‘ruins’ that now stood vacant and uninhabited – and totally devoid of any life….

But the most spine-chilling memorial of all was undoubtedly the ‘Ortodei Fuggiaschi’, which stood situated near the Porta di Noceria, not far from the Amphitheatre. For on view within this particular building was the grim sight of 13 plaster casts of the ‘carbonised bodies’ of the men, women and children who had died as a result of the volcanic holocaust. It was a sad and sobering sight – and a sorrowful note on which to end one’s sightseeing excursion……..

Roberta Crookes has worked as a newspaper journalist throughout most of her life, writing news stories, editorial features, advertisement supplements, and reviews. And in the course of her work she has interviewed many famous people from all walks of life. She has also managed to combine parallel careers in both journalism and acting, and, being Welsh speaking from North Wales, her main television featured parts have been Welsh language roles with BBC Wales.