Pompeii Excavations: the world's greatest Roman archaeological site near Naples

Pompeii is one of the most extraordinary and visited archaeological sites in the world: an entire Roman city of 20,000 inhabitants frozen in time by the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius, which buried it under three metres of ash and pumice. The UNESCO World Heritage Site covers 66 hectares — roughly two-thirds already excavated — and offers a complete and deeply moving vision of how Romans lived in the 1st century AD. Walking the basalt-paved streets, you encounter the Forum with its temples, the baths, the great amphitheatre that predated the Colosseum, the thermopolium with food remains still in their original containers, the House of the Vettii with its erotic frescoes, and the Villa dei Misteri with the most enigmatic and best-preserved painted cycles of antiquity. The plaster casts of the victims — made by pouring plaster into the voids left by bodies in the ash — are among the most haunting images in world archaeology. O'Vesuvio B&B in Torre del Greco is just 20 minutes from Pompeii: the perfect base for an early-morning visit, beating the queues of tourists arriving from Naples.

Highlights

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  World's largest Roman archaeological site: 66 hectares with over 1,000 buildings to explore

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  Plaster casts of 79 AD victims: the postures of death crystallised forever in volcanic ash

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  Villa dei Misteri: 1st-century BC fresco cycle of unparalleled beauty and mysterious meaning

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  Thermopolium in Regio V: Roman fast-food counter with original foodstuffs still in their containers

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  Pompeii amphitheatre: the oldest stone Roman amphitheatre in the world, dating to around 70 BC