Herculaneum (Ercolano)

Herculaneum (Ercolano in Italian) is an ancient Roman town in the Campania region of Italy, buried by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD alongside the better-known Pompeii. Where Pompeii was buried under volcanic ash, Herculaneum was engulfed in a pyroclastic surge and subsequently buried under up to 20 metres of hardened volcanic mud, which created far superior preservation conditions. As a result, Herculaneum offers wooden furniture, carbonised wooden doors and window frames, textiles, papyrus scrolls, and multi-storey building facades that have simply not survived at Pompeii. The site is significantly smaller than Pompeii—covering only about 4.5 of the original 20 estimated hectares—but what is exposed is extraordinarily vivid. Key highlights include the House of the Wooden Partition, where the actual wooden dividing wall between rooms survives; the College of the Augustales with its exceptional wall paintings of Hercules myths; the Casa dei Cervi with outstanding mosaic floors; and the restored ancient boat workshops along the ancient shoreline, where the skeletal remains of approximately 300 people who sheltered and died while awaiting a sea evacuation that never came are displayed. The Herculaneum Conservation Project has pioneered conservation techniques adopted worldwide. The site sits at the base of a 15-metre deep excavation trough, with the modern town of Ercolano visible above on all sides—a striking reminder of the scale of the eruption. Reachable from Naples by Circumvesuviana train in 15–20 minutes to Ercolano-Scavi station, the site requires two to three hours for a thorough visit.