We headed to Rome next but spent one day traveling the three hours by train to Naples and on to the ancient city of Pompeii.
A brief history lesson…Pompeii was a Roman city of about 20,000 people. It is so important because it was not a wealthy community but its citizens were average, middle class people. The city was founded in 600 BC and buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It was rediscovered in the 1600s and excavations began in 1748. Similar to all the cities we visited, they have excavated the ruins of the forum (main square), basilica, and the main streets. One of the most interesting things we saw were plaster casts of some of the victims. Archeologists noticed empty spaces beneath the rubble where bodies had decomposed. They filled these spaces with plaster to show the forms of a few of the people who lived in Pompeii.
We spent the evening on our way back to Rome in Naples. Naples is the birthplace of pizza, so we enjoyed dinner at Antica Pizzeria da Michele. They only serve two kinds of pizza…with cheese and without. You may recognize this restaurant from the movie Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts. She ate pizza there as well!
