In 1863 Giuseppe Fiorelli understood that the hollows in the hardened ash were not flaws in the dig: they were the Pompeians themselves, whose bodies had rotted away and left their own shape behind. He poured liquid plaster into the cavities and obtained the casts that still hold the postures of the last day. The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 had buried the town under ash and lapilli within hours and kept it sealed for almost 1,700 years. Excavation began in 1748 under Charles III of Bourbon, who was in fact looking for Stabiae; only in 1763 did an inscription reading Res Publica Pompeianorum settle which town this was. Fiorelli divided the area into regiones and insulae, the address system still in use, and between 1870 and 1885 had the first complete map drawn. The site has been on the UNESCO list since 1997 and counted 4,069,377 visitors in 2024.
What to see
The Forum, just inside Porta Marina, was the centre of public life: around the square stand the Basilica, the temple of Jupiter with Vesuvius squarely behind it, the macellum where meat and fish were sold, and the Granaries, now stacked with amphorae and a few casts. From there Via dell'Abbondanza, the paved decumanus, crosses the town to Porta Sarno and passes the Stabian Baths, the oldest bath complex here, with heated floors and moulded stucco. At the far end stands the Amphitheatre, built between 80 and 70 BC for some 20,000 spectators: it is among the oldest and best preserved in the world, and in 59 the senate closed it for ten years after a brawl between locals and men from Nuceria.
The largest house is the House of the Faun: 3,000 square metres, two atria, two peristyles and the mosaic of the battle between Alexander and Darius, now in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples along with almost every movable piece. The House of the Vettii keeps the painted Priapus at the door, the kitchen with its pans in place and walls in the red named after the town. The brothel in regio VII has five rooms per floor, masonry beds and some 200 graffiti scratched by clients and prostitutes. Outside Porta Ercolano, the Villa of the Mysteries holds the cycle of life-size figures that gives it its name.
Visiting
The simplest way in is by train: the Circumvesuviana Naples-Sorrento line stops at Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri, a few minutes on foot from Porta Marina, the main entrance. Inside you walk for kilometres on ancient, uneven paving, so closed shoes and water count for more than any guidebook. The essential circuit, Forum, Stabian Baths, Via dell'Abbondanza and Amphitheatre, takes at least three hours; add the frescoed houses and the Villa of the Mysteries and you reach half a day without effort. Many houses open in rotation, so book online and check the day's list of open buildings before going in.
Our editors' tip
We go in at opening time and head straight for the Amphitheatre, at the opposite end from the entrance: at that hour the groups are still at the Forum and the Great Palaestra is empty. Then we walk back towards the centre along Via dell'Abbondanza, against the flow. And we give a quarter of an hour to the casts in the Forum Granaries: after looking at them, the rest of the visit carries a different weight.
