Skip to content →

European surprises (#2 in single-image teaser series: archeology, Italian-style)

 

Smaller but wealthier than Pompeii, Herculaneum suffered the same fate: “destroyed” by the 79 AD eruption of Mt Vesuvius.

Whilst the volcano really did extinguish all human life in both places, its ash – which buried them – in fact made them the two best-preserved of all ancient Roman towns.

Their “secrets” are still being uncovered.

In Italy, even working archeologists can display an uncommon amount of “style”/ “attitude”/“flair”.

Photo is copyright Doug Spencer, taken in Herculaneum at 12.38 pm on 06 September 2023.

Herculaneum is entirely surrounded by modern-day Ercolano – a suburb of Naples which sits between Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples.

As a future post will show, Herculaneum is less crowded than Pompeii, but an equally rewarding destination.

One of its mosaics is really astonishing.

 

Published in Americas and Eurasia and Africa nature and travel photographs