Pompeii

[Felix Agrippa]

I will be going over to Bregenz, Austria for a university class, After the class, I am planing to go to Pompeii. So my question is first of all what is the best way to get there, euro-rail passes or would a cheap flight be better. Second of all for those of you who have been what are some parts of the city that should not be missed.


William Summe

"Felix Agrippa"

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi William,
There are many European low-cost carriers that would probably save you a lot of time and money if you could fly from Austria to Naples.
Just walk around in Pompeii, it's not that huge that you can't see it all in a few hours. If you want to see spectacular stuff, like the Alexander mosaic, you'll have to visit the Naples museum as well.

[Peroni]

There is also a little metro train service that stops at Herculanium and Pompeii which runs out of Napoli. It's very cheap and reliable.

Stabia's villa is not far either.

I went last summer. You'll enjoy it! Take good stout walking shoes, as Pompeii kills the feet after a few hours on those stones!

If you get the chance to get a ferry from Sorrento to Capri, visit the Villa of Tiberius. What a view!

Regards,

[Felix Agrippa]

So I guess my caligaes are out the question to wear in Pompeii lol. But thank you guess for your post I really appreciate your information. Hopefully, some more people who have been, will post so I can get some more info on it.

[Praefectusclassis]

Yes, I can confirm that caligae are probably not a good idea. The road is generally very uneven and the higher laying stones have been polished well through generations of tourists.

[Gaius Honorius Felix]

Well I was just there so i'll try to help you. The roads are deadly and make sure you see the forum. And the amphitheater and the theaters.

[Medusa Gladiatrix]

Salve Felix,
Salvete Omnes,

When I was in Rome I went on a day trip by bus to Pompeii which I regretted in the end because we spent only two hours at the excavation site and then continued to Sorrento.

Later I learned that there is a pretty good train connection from Rome to Naples and also from there to Pompeii. The train station is located just across from the excavation site. I don't now if that is just a regional train coming from Naples or if also the long distance trains from Rome stop there.

[Praefectusclassis]

No, you have to change trains in Naples. Which is not that bad, because the Naples museum has all the goodies from Pompeii. It is permanently under reconstruction though, I think. Maybe someone with recent experience can tell us what departments are open.

[Gaius Honorius Felix]

The museum's pompeii section is pretty much completely open.

As a sidenote; if you have time to go to rome I recommend that you go to the vatican museum. Not for any religious reason but they have a great gallery of roman statues.

[Emeraldweapon7d]

Will the final excivation report for pompei be published within my lifetime?

[Praefectusclassis]

Final? No, that's unlikely since there's still so much of Pompeii underground and there's hardly enough money to keep everything above ground in a reasonable state.

[caiusbeerquitius]

You might find Herculaneum more interesteing than Pompeji.

If you want to take a thorough look at Pompeji, take at least two days. As you will be there in summer, you might want to go into the excavations early in the morning, then walk around and look at things until around 11:30. Then go to the forum into the restaurant, and have a few espressi, and eat sthg. I used the time to read about the buildings. At 14:00 go out again and spend the rest of the day in the excavations again. Helps you to organise your tour, learn more and avoid the extremely hot noon time outside. Go and ask one of the custodes in the via dell´ abbondanza, if it is possible that they open you the casa di giulia felix, the casa di Loreio Tiburtino, and the casa di Venere, if they / it are / is closed. A small "offerta" might help.

When you are in Bregenz and want to spend a day or so in Augsburg, lmk.

[Peroni]

Also well worth the trip is the Greek settlement and temple complex at Paestum. It's about 40km from Sorrento. They have a wonderful museum at the site too. Splendid Samnite panoplies on display.

I too enjoyed Herculaneum more than Pompeii, less tourists for a start!
The buildings are in a better preserved condition, some two storey ones are superb. Some of the buildings scorched timbers are still intact. fascinating. I took 4 memory cards full of pictures on my trip!

Regards,

[Nathan Ross]

Pompeii can get crowded, but its so big that one can lose the crowds fairly easily. One major problem is that so much of it is off-limits for restoration - you can count on at least half of the better known houses being 'closed' for one reason or another. Even so, there's plenty to see - certainly be sure to visit the Villa of the Mysteries, outside the city to the north west, along a road lined with funerary monuments; the villa itself is one of the better examples of a late republican/early imperial villa suburbana turned factory (!).

I'd say the more reading about the site you can do before visiting, the better - there's quite a lot of stuff on the net. House plans are useful, as they allow a better appreciation of how space was arranged This site has a selection of splendid houseplans, many of them the less-known ones from the southern city fringe, overlooking the sea, with neat underground rooms - most of these particular houses are off limits (some of them, I think, have been 'closed' since original excavation in the late 19th century, which gives some idea of the scale of work at Pompeii!).

The site itself is easy to reach - take the circumvesuvia railway from the main rail station at Napoli (just down the steps outside the main entrance and turn right at the bottom - buy a ticket from the newspaper kiosk beside the turnstiles). Another good place in the area is the 'imperial' villa at Oplontis, in the middle of the far-from-picturesque modern town of Torre Anunziata. It's a short hot hike from the station, but the villa itself is huge and well preserved, and also (when I visited) almost completely deserted. You can get a ticket for Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae, incidentally.

Villa Oplontis

One more place that's worth a visit, if only for the setting, is the 'Villa of Pollio Felix', on the headland west of Sorrento - it's almost totally ruined, but spectacularly sited, with a semi-natural seawater bathing pool and brick substructure - makes for a good scenic walk at the end of a Roman-ruin-viewing week, if you have the time...

- Nathan