Romans took control of Pompeii around 200 BC. On August 24, 79 AD, Vesuvius erupted, burying the nearby town of Pompeii in ash and soot, killing around 3,000 people, the rest of the population of 20,000 people having already fled, and preserving the city in its state from that fateful day. Pompeii is an excavation site and outdoor museum of the ancient Roman settlement. This site is considered to be one of the few sites where an ancient city has been preserved in detail – everything from jars and tables to paintings and people was frozen in time, yielding, together with neighboring Herculaneum which suffered the same fate, an unprecedented opportunity to see how the people lived two thousand years ago.
We hired a private guide to carry us to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. The driver, Roberto, picked up us at the Cruise ship and dropped us off at the front entrance of Pompeii. We only had 1 1/2 hours to look around so my daughter and I literally ran through the place. I put my camera on sport mode and pressed the shutter as we flew through the ruins.
The forum that you can see in the archaeological site of Pompei was the economical, political and religious center of the city. It was the place where the political debates and the religious manifestations took place: the heart of the city.
The best way to get a feel for Pompeii is to walk the site. Our tickets were €11 each which was a bargain. We went the first of March and didn’t have to fight the crowds that usually arrive in summer.
The owner of the “House of Faun” must have been one of the most envied personality of the city at that time. The findings of this house made the archaeologist think that it was an enormous villa, with rooms used for different activities. It hasn’t been possible to understand who was the owner of this beautiful house, that’s why it’s called the house of the Faun: the name comes from a little bronze statue representing a dancing faun that was found at the center of one of the principal room. This house was a sort of modern apartment complex and inside there was a shopping center too. The structure is composed of two big communicating areas, each one of these has its own entrance and they were connected by shops rented to the merchants.Besides the shops it has also a lot of rooms, but we don’t know if they were private or rented. The structure has been built with very modern construction techniques: for example under the plaster there are applied lead plates to protect the house from dampness.
Street Crossing
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