Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town

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An engaging, female-focussed novel set in ancient Pompeii, from an exciting new voice in historical fiction. This is the story of a latter day Super Mario, an Italian plumber who overcomes very difficult challenges to fix the water supply to Napoli and surrounding areas before the local volcano erupts to ruin everything for everybody. March, April and May can be the best time to visit Pompeii and all the other attractions in the area. March can be a little chilly with a few days of rain, but cooler temperatures are good for exploring the ruins. Street Life, Earning a Living: Baker, Banker and Garum Maker (who ran the city), The Pleasure of the Body: Food, Wine, Sex and Baths, these chapter headings give a surprising insight into the workings of a Roman town. At the Suburban Baths we go from communal bathing to hygiene to erotica. A fast-food joint on the Via dell’ Abbondanza introduces food and drink and diets and street life

It’s easy to look at weather, bad archaeology, mismanagement, and organised theft as the key factors contributing to the deteriorating conditions of Pompeii prior to the 2012 project, and tut and moan about their inevitably.

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Pompeii was not the grand court of Emperors or a citadel of tyrants, but rather a place of busy streets, rowdy taverns and normal people who broke bread with family and simply dreamy of what tomorrow would bring. Most read the runes and departed by land or sea as the growls and tremors of their mountain deepened. We didn't get one because, well, we've found that a tour guide can sometimes prove more restrictive for us than we'd like. We like to do lots of our own research and reading before visiting ruins, and don't like to have to rush taking photos or savouring something that captures our curiosity. Also, the experience of having an underwhelming and slightly dull tour guide in control for a couple of hours is enough to sour the experience of any place (trust us on that). Darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a dark room," wrote Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the cataclysm from across the Bay of Naples.

Pompeii is therefore generally regarded as being properly rediscovered in 1748, ten years after excavation work had begun at Herculaneum - a smaller town down the road which suffered the same fate. Collectively, these projects are widely viewed as starting the modern science of archaeology, and efforts were aided by the debris being generally loose and relatively easy to remove. Because of this, what we find in Pompeii is that every step in the development in the science of archaeology was tested out in Pompeii—with mixed results," he says. Others spots to make a point of visiting (most of which you'll inevitably pass by or through as you make your way around) are The Temple of Isis, The House of the Mysteries, The House of Julia Felix, The House of the Faun, and the Teatro Grande.Read this book in 2007, and its a most splendid standalone book about the eruption of Vesuvius, and its two main witnesses, the engineer, Marcus Attilius Primus, and the scholar and commander of the navy, Pliny. With dusty, uneven, and susceptively slippy Roman roads and several miles to walk, wearing decent comfortable shoes or trainers is a no-brainer given the ground you'll be covering during your visit. Good sandals with support may do the job, but open-toed shoes should generally be avoided. Flip-flops are an absolute no-no. If you’re staying anywhere other than Naples you may find that shops and restaurants that cater mainly for tourists are closed for the winter, but prices are cheaper in the ones that stay open. Christmas in Naples looks absolutely magical, with lots of festive lights and crib displays. A snowy Mount Vesuvius Events unfold and develop during the two days leading up to the famous eruption which buried Pompeii.

The Stabian Baths | The scale and set-up of this public baths and gymnasium made us feel that the Romans had it absolutely right, especially given the state of our local leisure centre.

Pompeii is the latest destination in our ‘ Five great books set in…’ series. ‘ Five great books set in Pompeii’ Having read Imperium by Robert Harris few short months ago I found that I quite enjoyed his uncomplicated writing style. I in no way mean unsophisticated or simplistic, for he is an author who can comfortably shoulder the mantle of an old fashioned storyteller. The only way to combat this type of tourism is common decency (chances are if you’re reading this that you’d also be equally horrified by people graffitiing or clambering on two thousand year old ruins), but also raising awareness and educating those who don’t know better (or don’t seem to care). Due to the size of Pompeii, there will never be enough guards or staff around to make sure people are conducting themselves in a way which doesn’t cause harm to the ruins - so it’s important that other visitors step up to protect our shared heritage. If you’re planning to visit Herculaneum, the Archaeological Museum in Naples or other museums and attractions in the area then it might be worth buying a Campania Artecard. The importance of Pompeii is therefore not simply because of its age, its fate, its size, or its rediscovery; it’s because of how normal it was.