Pompeii the biggest testimony of the ancient Roman’s life.

The archaeological area of Pompeii is very extensive, which is why it offers a wide range of itineraries to choose from according to different interests: daily life in a Roman city, architecture, painting, town planning, nature trails along the perimeter walls that offer a suggestive picture of the ancient city Extra Moenia.

Of course, it is also possible to organize shorter itineraries that still best represent the image of the old city, through the visit of its most symbolic buildings.

History

Pompeii has ancient origins as much as Rome. A migration of citizens from the Sarno Valley, descendants of the legendary Pelasgians, formed a primordial village at the foot of Vesuvius. Perhaps little inhabited, but most likely a small inhabited center located at the crossroads of three important roads, retraced in historical times by the roads coming from Cuma, Nola, Stabia and Nuvkrinum.

An obligatory route between North and South, Pompeii became a looting for the powerful neighboring states. It was conquered for the first time by the colony of Cuma, between 525 and 474 BC. Strabone states that Pompeii was connected to the twelve of the most important Etruscan cities under the control of the Nuvkrinum, information that has become more truthful in the light of recent excavations. Several fragments of “Bucchero” were found near the temple of Apollo and the Baths of Stabia, some with “Nucerine” inscriptions in graphite. In the Terme area, a necropolis from the 6th century BC has also come to light.

The first evidence of an important center dates back to the 6th century BC. Even if in this period the city, still quite small, looks like a disorderly natural aggregation of buildings. The lost battle of the Etruscans, in the waters in front of Cuma, against the Cumans and Syracusans (mid-5th century BC) brought Pompeii under the hegemony of the Samnites.

Pompeii joined the Nucerina League, a confederation that included Nuceria Alfaterna, Herculaneum, Stabiae and Sorrento. It used the Nocera alphabet which was based on the Greek and Etruscan ones. The fortification of the entire plateau probably dates back to this period, together with a circle of walls that contained more than sixty hectares, even if the city proper does not reach more than ten hectares in size.

It was hostile to the Romans during the Samnite wars. Once defeated, it became an ally of Rome, as a partner of the City, maintaining linguistic and institutional autonomy. The first regular urban structure of the city dates back to the 4th century and around the 300 BC. It was equipped with a new limestone fortification. During the Second Punic War of Sarno, Pompeii, still under the control of Nuceria Alfaterna, remained faithful to Rome, unlike Capua and many other cities, thus retaining a partial independence.

Useful information

How to get to Pompeii from Massa Lubrense

By train
Circumvesuviana Sorrento-Napoli ( stop Pompeii- Villa dei Misteri)
By Car
Highway A3 Napoli-Salerno ( going out Pompeii west)

Access

Porta Marina – Piazza Esedra – Piazza Anfiteatro

Opening hours

All the archaeological sites :
From 1st  April to 31 October:  8:30-19:30 (Last entrance 18:00)
From 1st November to 31 March: 8:30-17:00 ( Last entrance 15:30)
Boscoreale: from  1st November to 31 March: 8:30-18:30 ( Last entrance 17:00)
Days off: 1st January, 1st May , 25 Decembe

Official website: http://pompeiisites.org/