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Herculaneum, Vesuvius, and Pompeii

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Volcanic ash and mud preserved the Roman towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii almost exactly as they were on the day Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, leaving them not just archaeological ruins but museums of daily life in the ancient world. The two cities and the volcano that buried them can be visited from either Naples or Sorrento, thanks to the Circumvesuviana, the suburban railway that provides fast, frequent, and economical service.

Herculaneum, Vesuvius and Pompeii

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Herculaneum

10 km (6 miles) southeast of Naples.

Getting Here

Take a train on the Circumvesuviana to Ercolano. From the station, walk across at the nearest roundabout and head down Via 4 Novembre for 10 minutes. If driving from Naples, take the Ercolano exit from the Napoli–Salerno Autostrada. Follow signs for Scavi di Ercolano.

Visitor Information

Ufficio Turistico.
The Ufficio Turistico is open 8–6, closed Sunday. | Via IV Novembre 82, | Ercolano | 80056 | 081/7881243.

Pompeii Prep

Pompeii, impressive under any circumstances, comes alive if you do some homework before seeing it in person.

First, read up—there are piles of good books on the subject, including these engaging, jargon-free histories: Pompeii: The Day a City Died by Robert Etienne, Pompeii: Public and Private Life by Paul Zanker, and The Lost World of Pompeii by Colin Amery. For accurate historical information woven into the pages of a thriller, pick up Pompeii: A Novel by Robert Harris.

Second, be sure to visit the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, where most of the finest art from Pompeii now resides. The museum is a remarkable treasure trove—and a rewarding place to visit even if Pompeii isn’t in your plans.

Exploring Herculaneum

Herculaneum Ruins.
Lying more than 50 feet below the present-day town of Ercolano, the ruins of Herculaneum are set among the acres of greenhouses that make this area one of Europe’s principal flower-growing centers. About 5,000 people lived here when it was destroyed; many of them fishermen, craftsmen, and artists. In AD 79 the gigantic eruption of Vesuvius (which also destroyed Pompeii) buried the town under a tide of volcanic mud. The semiliquid mass seeped into the crevices and niches of every building, covering household objects, enveloping textiles and wood—and sealing all in a compact, airtight tomb.

Excavation began in 1738 under King Charles of Bourbon, using the technique of underground tunnels. Digging was interrupted but recommenced in 1828, continuing until the following century. Today less than half of Herculaneum has been excavated. (With contemporary Ercolano and the unlovely Resina Quarter—famous among bargain hunters for its secondhand-clothing market—sitting on top of the site, progress is limited.) From the ramp leading down to Herculaneum’s well-preserved edifices, you get a good overall view of the site, as well as an idea of the amount of volcanic debris that had to be removed to bring it to light.

Though Herculaneum had only one-third the population of Pompeii and has been only partially excavated, what has been found is generally better preserved. In some cases you can even see the original wooden beams, staircases, and furniture. Do not miss the Villa dei Papiri, an excavation in a corner of the site, built by Julius Caesar’s father-in-law. The building is named for the 1,800 carbonized papyrus scrolls dug up here in the 18th century, leading scholars to believe that this may have been a study center or library.

Be sure to stock up on refreshments beforehand, as there is no food at the archaeological site. At the entrance, pick up a map showing the gridlike layout of the dig. Splurge on an audio guide (€6.50 for one, €10 for two); then head down the tunnel to start the tour at the old shoreline. Recent restoration means most of the houses are open and a fair cross-section of domestic, commercial, and civic buildings can be seen. Decorations are especially delicate in the Casa del Nettuno ed Anfitrite (House of Neptune and Amphitrite), named for the subjects of a still-bright mosaic on the wall of the nymphaeum (a recessed grotto with a fountain), and in the Terme Femminili (Women’s Baths), where several delicate black-and-white mosaics embellished the rooms. Annexed to the former house is a remarkably-preserved wine shop, where amphorae still rest on carbonized wood shelves. On the other side of the house is the Casa del Bel Cortile (House of the Beautiful Courtyard). One of its inner rooms displays a cast taken of three skeletons found in the storerooms down at the old seafront, where almost 300 inhabitants sought refuge from the eruption and were ultimately encapsulated for posterity. The Casa dei Cervi (House of the Stags), with an elegant garden open to the sea breezes, evokes a lively, luxurious way of life. The sumptuously decorated Terme Suburbane (Suburban Baths) is well worth a visit if it is open. | Corso Resina 6, | Ercolano | 80056 | 081/8575347 | www.pompeiisites.org | €11 for Herculaneum only; €20 for biglietto cumulativo ticket to 5 sites (Pompeii, Herculaneum, Boscoreale, Oplontis, and Stabiae) valid for 3 days | Nov.–Mar., daily 8:30–5, ticket office closes at 3:30; Apr.–Oct., daily 8:30–7:30, ticket office closes at 6.

Fodor’s Choice | Museo Archeologico Virtuale (MAV).
Dazzling “virtual” versions of Herculaneum’s streets and squares, computerized re-creations of the House of the Faun, even a 4D simulation of Vesuvius erupting: Herculaneum’s 1st-century-meets-the-21st-century museum extravaganza has it all. After stopping at the ticket office for the headset audio tour (€3), you descend, as in an excavation, to a floor below. Passing ancient faces that have now been given a name, the “percorso” path inserts you inside a re-creation of Herculaneum’s first dig, replete with voices echoing from large terra-cotta vases.

You’ll experience Herculaneum’s Villa dei Papiri before and—even more dramatically—during the eruption, courtesy of special effects; enter “the burning cloud” of 79 AD (actually vaporized water); then emerge, virtually speaking, inside Pompeii’s House of the Faun, which can be seen both as it is and (depending on a mere movement of your feet) as it was for two centuries BC. The next re-creation—complete with rippling grass and moving cart and oxen—is again Villa dei Papirii. Then comes a stellar pre- and post-flooding view of Baia’s “Nymphaeum,” the now-displaced statues arrayed as they were in days of Emperor Claudius who commissioned them. Another screen displays Villa Jovis, Tiberius’s residence on Capri.

Visitors here are also invited to take a front-row seat for “Day and Night in the Forum of Pompeii,” with soldiers, litter-bearing slaves, and toga-clad figures moving spectrally to complete the spell; or to make a vicarious visit to the “Lupari” brothels, their various pleasures illustrated in virtual and graphic frescoes along the walls. There are holograms of jewelry of the earthquake fugitives and a touch-and-browse section of the Papyrii’s 1,800 scrolls, too. Recent installations add reconstructions of Herculaneum’s theater and baths, and Pompeii’s gladiator school. The most spectacular of all, though, is a vivid simulation of the eruption of Vesuvius, with even the floor vibrating to give you an as-close-to-real-as-possible feel for what happened that fateful day. “Wisdom begins in wonder,” said Socrates, and this museum does a great job in proving the ancient philosopher correct. | Via IV Novembre 44, | Ercolano | 80056 | 081/19806511 | www.museomav.it | €11.50 (€7.50 musuem only, €5 eruption simulation only) | Tue.–Fri. 9:30–4, weekends 9:30–5.

Pompeii

Pompeii.
The site of Pompeii, petrified memorial to Vesuvius’s eruption on August 24, AD 79, is the largest, most accessible, and probably most famous excavation anywhere. A busy commercial center with a population of 12,000–15,000, ancient Pompeii covered about 160 acres on the seaward end of the fertile Sarno Plain. Today it’s choked with both the dust of 25 centuries and more than 2 million visitors every year. Only by escaping the hordes and lingering along its silent streets can you truly fall under the site’s spell. Come in the late afternoon, when it’s nearly deserted, and you’ll understand that the true pleasure of Pompeii is not in the seeing but in the feeling.

As you enter the ruins at Porta Marina, the first buildings to the left after you’ve gone through the ticket turnstiles are the Terme Suburbane (Suburban Baths), built right up against the city walls. These have eyebrow-raising frescoes in the apodyterium (changing room) that strongly suggest more than just bathing and massaging went on here. On the walls are scenes of erotic games clients could “play” in the second-floor Lupanare (brothel).

Continue up the hill to the Foro (Forum), which served as Pompeii’s cultural, political, commercial, and religious hub. You can still see some of the two stories of colonnades that used to line two sides of the square. Like the ancient Greek agora in Athens, the Forum was a busy shopping area, complete with public officials to apply proper standards of weights and measures. Fronted by an elegant portico on the eastern side of the forum is the Macellum, a covered meat and fish market dating to Augustan times. It was also in the Forum that elections were held, politicians let rhetoric fly, official announcements were made, and worshippers crowded the Tempio di Giove (Temple of Jupiter), at the northern end of the forum. The nearby Terme del Foro (Forum Baths) offered a relaxing respite. It had underground furnaces, the heat from which circulated beneath the floor, rose through flues in the walls, and escaped through chimneys: water temperature could be set for cold, lukewarm, or hot. On the southwestern corner is the Basilica, the city’s law court and the economic center. These oblong halls were the model for early Christian churches, which had a nave (central aisle) and two side aisles separated by rows of columns.

Several homes were captured in various states by the eruption of Vesuvius, each representing a different slice of Pompeiian life. The Casa del Poeta Tragico (House of the Tragic Poet) is a typical middle-class residence. On the floor is a mosaic of a chained dog and the inscription cave canem (“Beware of the dog”). The House of the Vettii (closed at the time of writing) is the best example of a wealthy merchant’s home. Its vivid murals—except for those in the two wings off the atrium—were all painted after the earthquake of AD 62. Once inside, cast an admiring glance at the delicate frieze around the wall of the triclinium (on the right of the peristyle garden as you enter from the atrium), depicting cupids engaged in various activities, such as selling oils and perfumes or performing in chariot races.

There’s no more magnificently memorable evidence of Pompeii’s devotion to the pleasures of the flesh than the frescoes on view at the Villa dei Misteri (Villa of the Mysteries), a palatial abode built at the far northwestern fringe of Pompeii. Unearthed in 1909 this villa had many rooms, all adorned with frescoes—the finest of which are in the triclinium. Painted in the most glowing Pompeiian red, the panels relate the saga of a young bride and her initiation into the mysteries of the cult of Dionysus, who was a god imported to Italy from Greece and then given the Latin name of Bacchus.

Two blocks beyond the Stabian Baths (entrance on Via dell’Abbondanza, closed for restoration at time of writing) you’ll notice on the left the current digs at the Casa dei Casti Amanti (House of the Chaste Lovers). A team of plasterers and painters were at work here when Vesuvius erupted, redecorating one of the rooms and patching up cracks caused by earth tremors a matter of days before. More paintings and mosaics were executed at Casa del Menandro (House of Menander), a patrician’s villa named for a fresco of the Greek playwright.

Pompeii’s other major edifice is the Anfiteatro (Amphitheater), once the ultimate entertainment venue for locals. It provided a range of experiences, though these essentially involved gladiators rather than wild animals. Built in about 70 BC, the oval structure was divided into three seating areas. There were two main entrances—at the north and south ends—and a narrow passage on the west called the Porta Libitinensis, through which the dead were most probably dragged out. During a show in AD 59 the supporters of rival gladiators became involved in a cruel brawl causing the closing of the amphitheater for years.

To get the most out of Pompeii, rent an audio guide (€6.50 for one, €10 for two; you’ll need to leave an ID card) and opt for one of the three itineraries (2 hours, 4 hours, or 6 hours). If hiring a guide, make sure the guide is registered for an English tour and standing inside the gate; agree beforehand on the length of the tour and the price; and prepare yourself for soundbites of English mixed with dollops of hearsay. You can prebook an excellent guide at www.vesuviusvspompeii.com or www.contexttravel.com. | 081/8575347 | www.pompeiisites.org | €11, tickets are valid for one full day | Apr.–Oct., daily 8:30–7:30 (last admission at 6), and Nov.–Mar., daily 8:30–5 (last admission at 3:30) | Station: Pompei-Villa dei Misteri.

Getting Here

To get to Pompeii by car, take the A3 Napoli–Salerno highway to the “Pompei” exit and follow signs for the nearby “Scavi” excavations. There are numerous guarded car parks near the Porta Marina, Piazza Essedra, and Anfiteatro entrances where you can leave your vehicle for a fee.

Pompeii has two central Circumvesuviana stations served by two separate train lines. The Naples–Sorrento train stops at “Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri,” 100 yards from the Porta Marina ticket office of the archaeological site, while the Naples–Poggiomarino train stops at Pompei Santuario, more convenient for the Santuario della Madonna del Rosario and the hotels and restaurants in the modern town center. A third FS (state) train station south of the town center is only really convenient if arriving from Salerno or Rome.

Vesuvius

8 km (5 miles) northeast of Herculaneum, 16 km (10 miles) east of Naples.

Getting Here

To arrive by car, take the A3 Napoli–Salerno highway exit “Torre del Greco” and follow Via E. De Nicola from the tollbooth. Follow signs for the Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio.

City Sightseeing buses (081/5517279 | www.napoli.city-sightseeing.it) climb the volcano from Pompeii twelve times daily (€10 return).

It’s far quicker to take the trips up Vesuvius on minibuses run by Vesuvio Express (081/7393666 | www.vesuvioexpress.it), based at Ercolano Circumvesuviana station. Both services will take you up to the car park and the starting point of the path up to the cone’s top.

Exploring Vesuvius

Mt. Vesuvius.
As you tour the cities that it destroyed, you may be overwhelmed by the urge to explore Vesuvius itself. In summer especially, the prospect of rising above the sticky heat of Naples is a heady one. The view when the air is clear is magnificent, with the curve of the coast and the tiny white houses among the orange and lemon blossoms. If the summit is lost in mist you’ll be lucky to see your hand in front of your face. When you see the summit clearing—it tends to be clearer in the afternoon—head for it. If possible, see Vesuvius after you’ve toured the ruins of buried Herculaneum to appreciate the magnitude of the volcano’s power.

City Sightseeing buses (081/5517279 | wwww.napoli.city-sightseeing.it) climb the volcano from Pompeii twelve times daily (€10 return). Those who cannot wait for the bus can ride the 10-seat minibus run by Vesuvio Express, leaving from Ercolano train station (081/7393666 | www.vesuvioexpress.it). This is a quick, painless, and relatively cheap way of getting to the top. The vehicles thread their way rapidly up on back roads, reaching the top in 20 minutes. Allow at least 2½ hours for the journey, including a 30-minute walk to the crater on a soft cinder track. The cost is €10 per person, plus €8 admission to the crater. The fee includes a compulsory guide service, usually young geologists with a smattering of English. At the bottom you’ll be offered a stout walking stick (a small tip is appreciated on return). The climb can be tiring if you’re not used to steep hikes. Because of the volcanic stone you should wear athletic shoes, not sandals. | 80056 | 081/7775720 | €8 | Daily 9 am–2 hrs before sunset.

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