Our first morning in Sorrento proved the weather forecasting hereabouts to be accurate as the rain came down. We were off to Le Serine bar for caffe e croissant and watched the early morning traffic chaos from the patio. Next stop Piazza Angelina Laura where our tour guide and bus met us (a bit late). The drive to Pompeii took about an hour and by the time we got there, the rain had let up. The first thing that struck us about this archeological excavation was the areal extent. Almost all of this city of some 20,000 inhabitants over an area of some 70 ha has been painstakingly excavated starting a long ago as during the 17th century (these estimates may be too high vs more recent calculations). The earliest findings likely resulted from treasure seekers and were not carefully undertaken. Discoveries continue to this day and there is evidence of ongoing excavation clearly visible.
The streets and buildings show how architectural methods and styles evolved as various controlling forces held sway (Etruscans through Samnites and ultimately Romans). The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD was preceded by a serious earthquake in 62 AD after which there is much evidence of repairs to damaged structures using then modern techniques/technologies. One really fascinating revelation is the brothel area where the nature of the professional copulation was depicted in a Fresco image at each tiny room entrance - alla Kama Sutra?? Without electricity, red lights were ingeniously provided for with an erect phallus over the entrance door!?! All for naught as the eruption in the middle of the night wiped everyone out and left the community completely buried. Truly mind boggling to consider the painstaking removal of material by hand. The nearby Herculaneum (Ercolano), then a coastal port community, is much smaller, was discovered later and has provided many clues to help unravel the mysteries of both ancient disaster sites.
Preservation of some of the wooden structures through carbonization (extreme heat with no oxygen for combustion) showed how upper floors would have been constructed. The tours provided a brief glimpse into the magnitude of the archeological treasure trove, far too much information to try to document here, so I’ll just leave it by noting that there were many (very) steps over uneven footing and much elevation change. On our drive back, we stopped at a scenic pull out overlooking the Golfo di Napoli at sunset. We returned to Sorrento stanche, fame e sete, and after we found our first choice closed for repairs, found Ristorante Aurora to be much more than satisfactory as we warmed up alongside the large forno oven and enjoyed a great pizza, perhaps the first amongst many here in this famous tourist attraction.
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