Pompeii
An archaeologist's paradise and a city with an epic history filled with drama, walking through Pompeii is like a vision from the past. Found close to Naples in southern Italy’s Campania region, Pompeii was once a thriving Roman city, Cornelia Venera Pompeiana. Reputed for its sophistication in its day, Pompeii was a resort for the wealthy and a bustling port for exotic goods until tragedy hit.
In 79 A.D, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city of Pompeii under layers of ash. Everyone in it at the time tragically died and the city was wiped from the face of the earth. Nearby cities could not find it because it had been completely buried, until 1959, some 1,500 years later, the city was discovered by accident, with everything still intact underneath the ashes. Bodies had been fossilized, buildings, jewelry, and everything that was part of life in Pompeii were still there as if in a time capsule.
The excavation of what is left of the city could take decades but with all that has been recovered so far, archeologists have been able to completely reconstruct what it was like living in Pompeii and that alone is enough reason to hop on the next flight to Pompeii.
You can explore ruins of the 130 bars, 40 bakeries, the white marble villas of the 20,000 inhabitants, graffiti, art, public baths, amphitheaters, and everything a middle-class Roman city at the time had. It is fascinating to explore, and is a site to put in your adventure collection!
