Pompei

Pompeii has a charm like nowhere else in the world. Visiting the excavations doesn't mean going to see a group of monuments, but a real city. Founded in the 7th century BC on a hill of lava stone, it came under the influence of both the Etruscans and the Greeks, and toward the end of the 5th century BC it passed to the Samnites, who developed its layout with large new public and private buildings.

A Roman city from the 1st century BC, under the emperors Augustus and Nero Pompeii grew into a city of more than 20,000 people. The first great blow came with the disastrous earthquake of AD 62, which badly damaged its buildings; they had not yet been fully restored when, on the morning of August 24, AD 79, the eruption of Vesuvius wiped out all life there.

The first remains only resurfaced in 1748, and from then on came the excavations and research that still go on today.

So much strikes visitors: the extraordinary state of preservation of the houses (some still standing two stories high, right up to the roof); the large public complexes (such as the theaters, the amphitheater and the baths); and the features and details that make 2,000-year-old structures and objects feel so modern, such as the inscriptions painted in big red and black letters on building facades, identified as election campaign slogans.

Wandering through the different neighborhoods (the insulae), you walk along streets with sidewalks and pedestrian crossings (the ancestors of today's crosswalks, made of large blocks set side by side), lined one after another with homes, shops, bakeries, laundries and all the services a city and its people needed to live.

You can visit the gardens, admire the remains of many temples, and soak up the relaxing atmosphere that once filled some of the bath complexes, perfectly preserved.

And then there are the paintings: the frescoes of Pompeii offer a unique snapshot of Roman tastes, worship, trades and art, with refined figures, vivid colors, and erotic and satirical scenes. It all makes for a truly gripping visit.

It takes a whole day to fully appreciate all this, perhaps treating yourself afterward to a good dinner of typical Campanian food, from buffalo mozzarella to tomatoes, from fried dishes to capocollo and, of course, an excellent pizza!