Most people flock to Pompeii and ignore its sister site, nearby Herculaneum. Like Pompeii, this ancient Roman town was destroyed and buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD; but because it was covered by different volcanic materials, it is better preserved than Pompeii - and just as fascinating, if not more. 

The buried remains of Herculaneum were rediscovered in the 1700s, before Pompeii; the excavations however were so difficult that they were repeatedly interrupted in favor of the easier excavation of Pompeii. Indeed, the excavated area of Herculaneum consists of only one quarter of the entire ancient town; the rest of the site still lies beneath modern Ercolano.