Tourism has been my passion and my profession since 1990. I began in La Plata, Argentina, at Euromar Turismo, the agency owned by my beloved father, Orazio Filippo Greco, before continuing in Italy with Andina Viaggi. Merlintravel grows from that experience and the desire to keep exploring and sharing the world. The journey continues…
Let’s see where it takes us.
Tourism has been my passion and my profession since 1990. I began in La Plata, Argentina, at Euromar Turismo, the agency owned by my beloved father, Orazio Filippo Greco, before continuing in Italy with Andina Viaggi. Merlintravel grows from that experience and the desire to keep exploring and sharing the world. The journey continues…
Let’s see where it takes us.
Campania Guide 02 · Street system, public institutions, houses, food, water and conservation
A city-scale route through Pompeii that connects gates, streets, Forum, theatres, amphitheatre, houses, shops, baths, water systems, gardens, casts and current conservation instead of treating the site as one frozen day.
Plan the routeWhy this Campania landscape must be read in layers
The city had centuries of life before 79 CE. Its walls, streets, houses and sanctuaries reflect Oscan, Samnite, Greek, Roman colonial and imperial phases, while rebuilding after earthquakes continued until the eruption.
Objects and wall paintings now in Naples or on-site storage once belonged to specific rooms and activities. Open buildings rotate because conservation, staffing and research change daily access; a complete guide follows systems rather than promising every famous house.
Pompeii’s named-ticket and capacity rules, baggage limits and entrance arrangements are live safety conditions. Check the official park site shortly before visiting for current arrangements.
Enter early through the gate that suits the route, read streets before interiors and leave time for conservation displays: the city becomes more precise when gaps and closures are treated as evidence.
The route
Use a single broad circuit through civic, theatrical, domestic and service zones, choosing open houses from the official daily list rather than repeatedly crossing the site for one unavailable room.
Follow the documented sequence: Walls, gates and streets: the urban frame; then The Forum: government, worship and exchange; then Theatres and entertainment district: performance beside worship. Recheck current access, transport and weather before departure.
Follow the documented sequence: Amphitheatre and palaestra: mass spectacle at the edge; then Houses: atrium, garden and unequal domestic life; then Painted rooms and mosaics: decoration in context. Recheck current access, transport and weather before departure.
Follow the documented sequence: Shops and food counters: production, service and street economy; then Baths, fountains and water: urban infrastructure; then Gardens and cultivated plots: food, scent and display. Recheck current access, transport and weather before departure.
Follow the documented sequence: Casts, excavation and conservation: Pompeii after discovery. Recheck current access, transport and weather before departure.
Ten chapters
The order follows terrain, chronology and current movement. Use the index without detaching monuments from the living landscape and infrastructure that sustain them.
Fortification, road surfaces, stepping stones and wheel ruts preserve movement at city scale
Pompeii is clearest when entered as a network rather than a sequence of interiors.
Choose the entrance from the official map and expect long uneven routes, heat and limited shade. Small bag rules and site closures are enforced.
Walls and gates developed across pre-Roman and Roman phases. Streets channelled people, animals, carts, drainage and water while neighbourhoods changed around them.
Follow one street continuously and compare paving, sidewalks, thresholds and cross-streets. Ruts and stepping stones need contextual rather than picturesque reading.
A long civic square concentrated temples, administration, markets and public ceremony
Its present openness results from ancient planning and modern excavation.
The paving is exposed and crowded near main routes. Use the edges, do not climb bases and check temporary barriers around conservation.
The Forum evolved from earlier civic space and was monumentalised under Roman rule. Buildings around it served cult, justice, municipal administration, food distribution and commerce.
Walk the perimeter before the centre and identify entrances by function. Vesuvius views are later visual context, not the sole reason for the square’s orientation.
Large and small theatres, porticoes and a sanctuary formed a specialised public quarter
Acoustics, seating and crowd control can be read without staging an imagined spectacle.
Stone steps are steep and exposed; event setups can alter access. Remain off restricted stage structures.
Performance buildings developed over several phases and were adapted to Roman forms. Their relation to the Temple of Isis and porticoes shows that urban districts served several institutions at once.
Compare seating capacity, roof evidence and stage architecture in the two theatres. Follow entrances to reconstruct audience separation.
A large arena and exercise ground occupy the less densely built eastern city
Location, crowd routes and social order explain the complex better than gladiator imagery alone.
The amphitheatre may use one-way access and has steep steps. Large events or conservation can close parts of the route.
Built in the Roman colonial period, the amphitheatre is among the earliest surviving permanent examples. Inscriptions and ancient evidence record patronage and conflict among spectators.
Circle the exterior and identify how crowds entered different seating sectors. Compare the arena with the adjacent open palaestra.
Elite houses combine reception, water, service, decoration and changing family strategies
The famous atrium is one element in a varied domestic system.
Only a rotating set of houses is open. Follow the official daily list, respect thresholds and never cross conservation barriers.
Properties were combined, subdivided and redecorated over generations. Earthquake repair, shops and rental spaces complicate the idealised single-family house model.
Read entrance, sight line, water basin, rooms, garden and service areas in order. Compare one large house with a modest property.
Colour, architecture and myth organised movement and status inside buildings
A room programme is more informative than one detached masterpiece.
Light and capacity controls protect fragile surfaces. Do not touch walls or lean across low barriers.
Decorative campaigns changed with fashion, patronage and repairs. Excavation exposure then created new deterioration, prompting roofs, monitoring and periodic closure.
Follow borders and painted architecture around the whole room. Note repairs, missing panels and the relation to floor mosaic and doorway.
Open-fronted units and masonry counters record commerce but do not all represent the same business
Finds and installations are needed before naming a thermopolium or menu.
Many counters are visible from streets even when interiors close. Keep openings clear and do not place objects on ancient surfaces.
Shops, workshops and bars occupied house fronts and independent units. Vessels, residues and equipment help identify activities, while ownership and labour often remain uncertain.
Compare counter openings, back rooms, water access and street position. Avoid saying every inset jar held hot food.
Public bathing depended on aqueduct, tanks, boilers, labour and carefully sequenced rooms
Fountains and pipes connect domestic comfort to municipal systems.
Bath interiors can be slippery, dark and capacity-limited. Outdoor fountains are archaeological objects, not drinking-water guarantees.
Earlier wells and cisterns were supplemented by aqueduct supply. Distribution towers, lead pipes and street fountains served public and private users unequally.
Trace cold, warm and hot rooms, then look for service corridors and furnace position. Outside, map fountains against street intersections.
Open spaces inside and near houses supported dining, religion, production and visual control
Planting reconstructions must be tied to excavation and environmental evidence.
Reconstructed gardens are managed research displays. Stay on paths and do not pick fruit, flowers or soil samples.
Root cavities, pollen, carbonised material, planting containers and frescoes allow cautious reconstruction of ancient horticulture. Vineyards and orchards also formed part of the urban economy.
Look for beds, channels, dining rooms and garden sight lines. Distinguish ancient evidence from modern species and maintenance choices.
Plaster casts and exposed buildings record modern archaeological decisions as well as ancient deaths
Ethics, documentation and care must replace disaster spectacle.
Casts and exhibitions can move; conservation areas are restricted. Treat human remains and death displays with restraint.
Systematic excavation developed under Bourbon rule and changed methods over time. Giuseppe Fiorelli’s casting technique captured voids left by decomposed bodies; later archaeology prioritised context and preventive conservation.
Read each cast label for findspot and method, then look at drainage, roofs and scaffolding that keep the site open today.
The landscape through time
A documented sequence from ancient settlement and environmental formation to modern conservation, mobility and resident life.
The settlement is enclosed by substantial walls and develops within wider Campanian exchange.
Samnite-period building and urban change reshape houses and public space.
Pompeii expands monumental buildings, houses and regional commerce.
A Roman colony is established after the Social War.
The amphitheatre and other colonial institutions transform the eastern city.
Aqueduct supply, public buildings and elite houses continue to develop.
A major earthquake damages the city and begins extensive rebuilding.
Vesuvius buries Pompeii during a complex eruption whose precise calendar date remains debated.
Works for the Sarno canal cross buried structures without systematic excavation.
Bourbon-sponsored excavation begins at Pompeii.
Giuseppe Fiorelli assumes direction and advances systematic recording.
Plaster casting of eruption victims is introduced.
Allied bombing damages parts of the archaeological site.
Pompeii joins Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Large-scale conservation, new excavation and controlled visitor capacity reshape the public site.
Before your visit
Avoid resellers and verify timed-entry, named-ticket or same-day rules on the managing institution’s current site.
Heat, wind, sea state, volcanic conditions and heavy rain can change exposed archaeological, coastal and mountain routes.
Stay on open paths, do not remove stone, plants or archaeological material and follow marine or park zoning.
Rail, bus, ferry and road congestion vary sharply by season; do not combine distant chapters without a live connection check.
Homes, farms, markets and working harbours are not sets; keep gates, lanes and deliveries clear and photograph people only with consent.
Legends and local narratives are identified as cultural evidence and are not substituted for archaeological, geological or archival proof.
Method and sources
This guide uses current documentation from the managing archaeological park, museum, ministry, UNESCO property, civil-protection authority, protected-area body or transport institution, checked on 29 August 2026. Claims are cross-checked against at least one second primary or institutional source where available. The guide separates current access from durable history and distinguishes surviving fabric from reconstruction, restoration, legend and promotional simplification.
All ten images are original Merlintravel editorial watercolours based on documented present-day conditions. They are illustrations, not substitutes for archaeological plans. Opening hours, tickets, accessible routes, temporary exhibitions and conservation work can change; consult the linked official pages shortly before visiting.
