The Herculaneum Archaeological Park protects and opens to visitors the excavated area of the ancient Roman town buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Together with those of Pompeii and Oplontis, the excavations of Herculaneum have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
What to see
The area open to visitors corresponds to the roughly four hectares brought to light in the open by the superintendent Amedeo Maiuri, after long expropriation work, and then by Antonio De Franciscis, out of a town that covered some twenty hectares. According to the Park's official guide, the new phase of excavation begun by Maiuri was linked to the reopening of the monumental entrance on corso Resina. Those excavations were followed by consolidation and restoration and, in the second half of the twentieth century, mainly by maintenance of the site.
The volcanic material that covered the town solidified into pappamonte, a kind of softer tuff: this is why carbonised wood, furniture and partitions can still be seen in the houses, and the thickness of the rock protected the site from looting. Most of the everyday objects, paintings, mosaics and statues, however, are in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Besides the archaeological area you can visit the Boat Pavilion, which holds a Roman-era boat brought to light in 1982 on the town's ancient shoreline.
Visiting
A new entrance to the excavations was opened a few years ago, with a large area including a car park, refreshment points and souvenir sales. In 2022 the Park had more than four hundred and thirty thousand visitors, the thirteenth most visited monument in Italy, and in 2023 more than five hundred and sixty thousand, the highest number in its history. Opening hours and tickets should be checked on the official website.
Our editors' tip
From corso Resina you can go down to the Roman theatre, still buried and reached through underground tunnels: access is allowed for study with the authorisation of the Park's management and, since 2022, on an experimental basis, with guided tours along an underground route.
