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| HALF DAY TOUR |
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| Included Highlights |
 Pompeii is the most famous and visited archaeological site in the world, it was visited in 2008 by over 2,000,000 people.
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Pompeii is the most famous and most visited archaeological site in the world. It was visited in 2008 by over 2,000,000 people. Pick up directly from your hotel or indicated meeting point, where, we journey through the municipalities forming part of the Sorrentine peninsula and continue to State Road 145 "Sorrento", where you can admire the Sorrentine peninsula in all its glory! After a journey of about 30 minutes we arrive at Pompeii. Pompeii was founded around the eighth century BC by Osci who settled and divided it into 5 villages at the southern foot of Mount Vesuvius, not far from the river Sarno, then navigable. The number five, in Oscan, probably derives from the name of the town. The first settlements date back to the Iron Age, or the IX - VII century BC., when there was the culture of "graves". Pompeii at that time was a very important commercial centre, so that it was a target for expansion by the Greeks and the Etruscans before, and the Samnites later. The Samnites enlarged the walls of the town, turning it into a large urban development. At this time there was a strong architectural impulse. A triangular and rectangular Forum were reconstructed and important buildings like the Temple of Jupiter, the Basilica and the House of the Faun, which is the size of a Hellenic Palace were constructed. In the same period the Temple of Isis was built and it is clear evidence of trade with the East of Pompeii. Pompeii became the residence of the Roman nobility and, in Imperial times, many families supported Augustus’ policy and moved here ordering the construction of buildings like the Temple of Fortuna Augusta and the building of Eumachia. Under Nerone the Campania region suffered heavy damage due to an earthquake which occurred in 62 or 63 B.C. The Roman Senate immediately ordered the reconstruction, but all was in vain, because August 24 of 79 B.C., when rebuilding was still underway, a disastrous eruption of Vesuvius wiped it out completely with, Herculaneum, Stabia and Oplonti. There was almost no escape for anyone and the thriving Pompeii was only a cloak of lava often up to three meters, cementing the inhabitants and destroying all manner of life. From this great tragedy the famous archeological excavations of Pompeii, where digging began, brought to light, the ancient Roman city, so tragically destroyed after one of the eruptions of the nearby volcano, Vesuvius, in the year 79 B.C. In Pompeii work started around 1748, in the area of Civita, which was then believed to be Stabia, alternating with breaks due to other discoveries at Herculaneum, and continued mostly without a definite plan and without a precise method, performed by prisoners in chains and young boys. The research was aimed only at finding material for museums or to decorate the royal palaces, while the buildings excavated, once stripped of artworks, were left without any care or protection from the weather. With the outbreak of the French revolution and also the start of the first revolutions in Naples, the activity of the excavations decreased significantly which Joseph Bonaparte and Joachim Murat, later resumed, on a larger scale, and more intensively. With the birth of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the Savoys did not underestimate the prestige arising from the discovery of Pompeii. By the wish of the new king, systematic excavations began: he appointed Giuseppe Fiorelli as director, a professor of archaeology at the University of Naples. Fiorelli adopted a scientific method, with logging excavation, surveying, indexing of objects, and employing more than five hundred workers. To him we owe the invention of the method of filling with plaster the gaps left by the victims in bank hardened ash, providing a kind of matrix that produces the imprints of the bodies caught in the moment of death, with dramatic intensity. The system of removing all objects from the excavations was abandoned: the paintings and mosaics were mostly left in place, the houses were covered with carved roofs which copied the layout and provide a hedge against early deterioration. The years that followed were the best: extending the search to the east and towards the Porta di Nola, bought to light many houses, consolidating the structures and restoring the paintings on the site. The last thirty years have been alternately modest exploration for the conservation, of primary importance to this unique place in the world. The excavation work is overshadowed today by the need to restore and protect this world famous site, the best example of a Roman city in the world. The visitor will realize that Pompeii offers a variety of things to see that the guide will need to select in order to give visitors an idea as complete as possible of the classical Roman city. In fact you can admire all the structures typical of the Roman world such as the main square or forum, baths, theatres, the neighbourhood of prostitution (brothels), the roads that intersect the second axis east-west and south-north, mansions with remains of frescoes from Roman times, the attraction of spectacular plaster casts containing bones of Pompeians that died during the disaster, numerous shops that lined the streets and the remains of electoral registrations. The excavations of Pompeii, Herculaneum and those of Oplontis are given in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is with thanks to the scientists, historians, archaeologists, restorers and all those people who are so dedicated to preserving the tragedy of Pompeii, that the city was not destroyed. There is enough left, that, with time, can return it to the appearance it had on that particular day in 79 B.C.
Return to Sorrento in the early afternoon.
Lunch and entrance fees not included.
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| Departures: |
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Operating Dates: 01 May/31 October
Operating Days: Mondays and Wednesdays
Departs from: Centrally located Sorrento Hotels
Departure time: 07.30AM
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| Price: |
Adults : $ 46.00
Children (3-16) : $ 46.00
Seniors (60+)/Students (with ID) : $ 46.00
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