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When and how was Pompeii discovered? Excavations began in 1748, during the reign of Charles of Bourbon, with the meaning of giving prestige on the royal house. Archaeological research was generally understood as a mere instrument of collecting for rich nobles. Unfortunately, this obviously led to a negative social result: the treasures were only for rich people. King Charles, as enlightened ruler, thought to systematize the excavations and discoveries unearthed: the Herculaneum Academy served precisely to exhibit and scientifically illustrate the discoveries, while he decided to proceed to compact areas of the city. In 1763 the first open air excavation began: the tour route was really uncomfortable, because between one excavation area and another there were huge mounds of soil. The visitor licence was issued by the king: visitors were prevented from sketching, to keep the discoveries unreleased. But by 1799 the history of Naples and the entire kingdom took on a new face…

1799: Napoleon

The history of Pompeii goes through the many dominations that took place over our city. In January 1799 the French troops, led by General Championnet, put Ferdinand IV on the run and proclaimed the so-called “Neapolitan Republic“. Championnet proved to be a cultured and aware man, managing to quickly continue the excavations of Pompeii: today one of the houses to visit bears his name! The great surge, for the speed of the excavation campaign, took place from 1806: Gioacchino Murat, King of Naples during the French decade, and his wife Carolina Bonaparte gave the greatest contribution ever to the excavation works on Pompeii. Unfortunately, once again the political events from the Restoration of 1815 led to a new slowness in the excavation campaign: only with the United Italy in 1861 the activities resumed with new guidelines. The radical change was also due to the happy choice to entrust the direction of the excavations to Giuseppe Fiorelli, who took up the task with a systematic rigor and a clarity of totally new intentions.

20th century

The beginning of the 20th century saw a rapid shift in the direction of the excavations of Pompeii. In 1911, Vittorio Spinazzola was in this role. His method proved to be innovative: according to him, previous archaeological investigations had often damaged some buildings, depriving them of the upper floor when existing. He proposed to work from the top down: in this way, he first managed to leave intact the nature of some buildings, but above all to highlight the lively commercial nature of ancient Pompeii, reaching to free up Via dell’Abbondanza. His successor, Amedeo Maiuri, got this legacy. He was Director from 1924 to his death, in 1963, the richest period ever: from previous insights, Maiuri worked his whole life to highlight the great humanity of Pompeii, as an active urban nucleus and at times very close to ours modern cities. He completed the great post-war restoration works and freed the walls from the land accumulated over the centuries, finally defining the true circuit of the city.

Today

The story of the excavation works carried out in the ancient city of Pompeii means to give first of all the right importance to scientific research. Respect for the fragility of the past guaranteed by the right method has left us with a great legacy: the deep knowledge of history, in which we are lucky enough to walk. Pompeii still continues to give us wonderful surprises: the “Great Pompeii Project” was born in 2011, and aimed to strengthen the effectiveness of actions and conservation works in the archaeological area of Pompeii through the development of a extraordinary and urgent programme of conservation, prevention, maintenance and restoration works. Our immense heritage represents our past, present and future: its care and respect are the engines that push us to always update ourselves, to study to solve our doubts and to keep doing our job in the most intense and professional way we know!

L'articolo The History of Vesuvian Archaeological Excavations proviene da Naples Grand Tour.

79 A.D.

Today we dedicate our meeting to one of the most important and tragic events in the ancient history of Italy: the Vesuvian Eruption of 79 A.D. Until a few years ago, the most reliable authoritative source was the letters of Pliny the Younger. He told about the tragedy of the eruption both from his point of view and from his uncle’s one, who died during this dramatic event. The eruption was always placed on August 24th, but several scientific results have shifted the date to October 24th. How was it possible, then, to be sure about it? With no doubts, thanks to the perfect conservative state of some objects. The great miracle that allows us to walk in the history of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the other cities affected by the eruption is just this: everything was practically buried by the pyroclastic surge, having paradoxically almost a “conservative” result!

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472 A.D.

Not just 79 A.D.! Another eruption, the 472 A.D one., also called “of Pollena Trocchia” it’s very important: our CEO, Raffaele, is originally from this town on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, and he took part as an archaeologist in the project apolline project. This eruption had such a force, to cover with dust and ash the whole of Europe, up to its eastern borders. Although Pompeii and Herculaneum remain the most famous examples, the Vesuvian area still retains hidden treasures that need to be discovered, such as thermal baths, probably belonging to a House. Inside, the bones of two children, possibly twins and who died from the same disease. The great Bourbon excavations, however, show that the this area was not entirely unknown: since then, some materials of the House were reused for a part of the…San Carlo Theatre!

The Vesuvian eruption of 1631.

Naples was the Capital of the Spanish Viceroy: a dynamic and crowded city. This vitality began to be compromised from December 1631: after five centuries of quiescence, numerous warnings preceded this other great eruption. The previous days, earthquakes and lacerations of the land anticipated what occurred on the morning of 16 December: a fracture opened in the side of the volcano, from which a column of mud and lava, that reached the cities almost 20 distant Kilometers. Several explosive phenomena scourged the vesuvian area: ash and gas covered the sky for days. Even today, the Neapolitans remember this ancient 16 December: every year, the miracle of San Gennaro is also celebrated on this date. The tradition says that only His holy statue could stop the eruption, and once again put an end to the sufferings of the Neapolitan people.

The last eruption: 1944

It was March 18, 1944: the Anglo-American troops had already entered the city, the Second World War was not over yet. Once again the power of nature took over: strong lavish pours and a large cloud of ash and pyriclastic flows involved all the countries of the Vesuvian area. Some villages were evacuated, others suffered damage. The city of Naples was spared thanks to the favorable action of the winds, which wiped out the ash cloud. The American soldiers left precious testimonies: in real time, they lived with surprise this event, often actively helping also to cleaning up some areas from the huge mantle of ash. Since then, Vesuvius has been in a state of quiescence, both in terms of eruptive phenomena and ground movements, going back to being the best background of our walks

L'articolo Vesuvius and Eruptions proviene da Naples Grand Tour.