Visit Naples Italy

The town of Herculaneum is now known today due to the explosion of the volcano Vesuvius. If not for that explosion that city perhaps would not have received so much fame and attention. Perfectly preserved in its destruction the city gives a great insight into how the Romans lived at that time period.

Herculaneum was a smaller city then Pompeii consisting of only 5,000 residents at the time of its destruction. Due to this the city is obviously not as large nor as grand. However this is a great city to truly understand how a common Roman lived in ancient days.

Some of the best ruins in Italy are at this site. This is primarily due to the interest that was shown for the city of Pompeii. The best ruin in the city is that of the Terme Suburbane or the suburban baths. That just makes sense as the ruin is mostly underground and would have suffered only damage from the earthquakes as opposed to the plume of ash and pumice that rained on the city.

While the city is not replete with many grand homes and palaces there were some large sea front homes that are very opulent for the city standards. Most likely these ruins are from the ruling class of the city and that is why they are so well laid out with gardens and terraces.

You can even find examples of an ancient fast food shop or thermopolia where some simple soups and salads were served to residents passing by. As I said this is a great place to find out how the ancient Romans truly lived and worked as this was a common town for many of the residents of the time.

The Villa dei Papri so named after all of the scrolls found in it was most likely the library of the town. It was hoped when this place was discovered that long lost works by the famous artists of the time like Aristotle, Plato and other Greek and Roman masters. This place was the inspiration for John Paul Getty’s museum in Malibu, California so you can see that this town still wields it influence even in its destruction.

This is one of the smaller and more interesting side trips you can take if you are based out of Naples. It is certainly worth looking into how ancient people lived as you can see that their lifestyle is not that different from ours today.