Day 8: Pompeii for a day

Today we headed out early for a day trip to Pompeii. Pompeii was an ancient coastal town near Naples that was buried in volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.


It layed buried until the late 1880's when the government of the time was doing some digging and discovered artifacts. Excavation started taking place and the ancient city was discovered. Today the city is about 2/3 excavated and we were able to walk through the town and see what life was like 2000 years ago!

For our trip we hired Pietro and Marina, the landlords of the apartment we are renting in Rome, to drive us down to Pompeii and give us a tour. We started our day in Pompeii with some fresh squeezed lemonade and orange juice outside of the ruins. The Pompeii and Naples area are known for their citrus fruit, growing all around the city. The lemons are a huge variety we had never seen before. The fresh squeezed juice was delicious.


Then we went inside the ruins and learned all about Pompeii. One of the first things we noticed was that the ancient city is about 20 feet below the current day ground level. The whole thing was filled in with volcanic ash and was covered. Over the centuries new dirt, grass, plants, etc. grew on top of the buried area and no one realized there was an entire city beneath. When they uncovered it they had to dig down and down and down. At the bottom were fully intact ancient roads, complete with ruts from chariot wheels!



We saw all kinds of ancient businesses and homes.


They were very sophisticated for 2000 year ago, with wells and resevoirs to collect rainwater for daily chores, as well as indoor plumbing that ran fountains, drinking water and toilets.


Bakeries with ovens and grinding mills




Taverns with built in pots for beverages

Churches and government buildings

Public baths


Homes with fabulous frescos painted on the walls and mosaic flooring




and on and on.
There was even an ancient laundry and aquaduct pipes still visible!



The aquaduct also fed drinking water fountains on the main corners around the town

There were also row after row of pots, statues, weights and scales

and even casts of bodies that were buried in the ash!



We noticed the people were much smaller than today and it was kind of sad to see the casts of the bodies and be reminded how many people must have died when the volcano buried the city. Most of the people were overcome by toxic gases before they were buried in ash. Some evacuated when they saw signs the volcano would erupt, so some people were able to get out of the city in time.

Pompeii was a port town, a center of commerce for the entire region. So it was a bustling city with a population of about 20,000 permanent residents.


It was also a bit of a resort town, since it was on the seaside. Affluent families would come to vacation there. There were even amphitheatres for dancing, concerts and gladiatorial challenges.


After we finished touring the ruins we went to lunch at a local restaurant and had local specialties. We had fried seaweed balls and lots of seafood. We finished off the meal with a delicious type of espresso special to the region.

It was a three hour ride home, so we all rested along the way. When we got back to Rome, Pietro told us the oldest Gelato factory in Rome was on the way, so we all agreed we had to stop and try it!


We all got several flavors to try and it was a delicious way to finish off a wonderful day of exploring in Italy!

Buono Sera!