Herculaneum in Ercolano, Italy (October 6, 2025)
When you plan your visit Pompeii, many tourists discover Herculaneum, the lesser known city that was also destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. In some ways, Herculaneum is more tragic. Many people survived the initial eruption that destroyed Pompeii, but were killed while waiting for boats to sail away to safety.
Similar to Pompeii, the sight is like being warped back in time nearly 2,000 years in history and walking in a Roman city that was extremely well preserved because of this tragedy. What is revealed are feats of engineering and artistry that astound while also affirm that 2,000 years later we simply aren’t that much different as human beings in that we seek a life of purpose, meaning and fulfillment. Each of us have a role to play in our community and are part of the interconnected web of life.
And oh my was the sun was shining brightly upon us this day:
Couple of highlights that differ from my post on Pompeii.
Elena stayed with Violet and me the whole day.
We opted not to hire a guide and instead explored ourselves.
Found the catacombs and explored what we could.
Uncovered the 300 skeletal remains of those waiting for ships (that’s at the VERY END of this post if you care NOT to see it).
What’s similar?
Floor mosaics and wall paintings are still the coolest.
Many cats to be found around the area that seems to live here.
I’m still blown away by the mosaic floor artwork that seemed to live in just about every home we visited. Sure, most of these homes were for the rich living in this area, but still. The fine attention to detail was (and is) astonishing. So much care into these intricate patterns and so much visual storytelling with floor tiles.
That swirl pattern is so much more if you take a moment to click on it and enlarge it. You’ll see smaller images contained inside each one. A pattern within a pattern. So thoughtful and so intricate. Pure artistry. And this is almost 2,000 years old!
And Elena was SO in her element. She was the only one with a map. While Violet and I love exploring just to see what we discover, Elena wants to make sure we don’t miss anything of importance. We saw the bath houses, the restaurants, and, of course, the catacombs. All of it was really special and it’s wonderful to see our resident history buff loving every minute of this experience. She is so connected to her ancestors. I love watching her connect with history.
Elena Carmody pointing out that each owner of a house would have a bust like this signifying their importance and status as owner
These catacombs were of Herculaneum were so fun to explore. I realize we only scratched the surface and that much of it was roped off. The idea that there is a full underground tunel experience beneath Herculaneum is wild. It’s the stuff of a Dan Brown novel. What secrets lie down here to this day? The imagination runs wild (even if it’s “not much”). I’ve heard that fossilized scrolls have been uncovered, but our technology isn’t good enough to read them without destroying them … yet. Someday we’ll have access to this ancient wisdom. The secrets will continue to be unveiled well into the future.
And of course, kitties. We saw lots of cats roaming free throughout Herculaneum. This adds to the adventure as these cats are friendly and enjoy being pet (for the most part). They’ll let you know if they are “done” or no longer wish to have your affection. That starts by them moving away from you and then a gentle (no claw) warning pat. If you don’t get the hint after that, it’s on you, buddy.
There was a bit more artwork available here and I’ll show this last bit before urging anyone to drop off who doesn’t want to see the 300 skeletal remains. For me, it was hard not to look once I knew where it was. That may be the same for you, or you may be happy never to see it. Either way, it’s right after the next group of pictures showing all the artwork on the walls of the buildings:
And here are the skeletal remains of those who died waiting to sail away from Herculaneum. They died instantly when the 800-degree vapor came rolling off the volcano and incinerated each of them waiting to get on a boat to sail away. They were in a cave area that appeared to be protected, but that didn’t matter with that level of heat rolling through the area.
I don’t mean to end on a bummer. This was fascinating to see as a final point of the tour. Nearly 2,000 years later and these bones look like they were found yesterday. They have been incredibly well preserved and showed that they died instantly. The museum showed that these people were carrying their most prized possessions – gold, silver and jewelry hoping to make a fresh start. Instead, they showed us what was considered valuable in 79 AD and what would survive this kind of heat.
