A stunning fresco depicting Narcissus looking at himself in the mirror has been uncovered during new excavations at Pompeii, the interim director of the archaeological site, Alfonsina Russo, announced on Thursday. The discovery was made during a dig at the Regio V section of the ancient Roman city and comes just months after the unearthing of anoth...
READ MOREThe archaeological park at Herculaneum, the ancient sister city of Pompeii, has several new initiatives and changes in store as the new year begins. The site saw a 9% increase in visitors over the past year, according to figures released by the park's administrators, for a total of 534,328 visitors compared to 490,030 in 2017. Park administrators a...
READ MOREWe’ve been hearing about how Italy’s famous landmarks have been suffering under the strain of overtourism lately. As well as crowds being a nightmare for residents, it doesn’t exactly make for the most enjoyable travel experience for visitors either. After all, it’s hard to enjoy the view when you’re being poked in the eye by someone’s selfie stick...
READ MOREPompeii's 'gladiator school' reopened Thursday after a three-year restoration following a collapse eight years ago. The director of the archaeological park of Pompeii, Massimo Osanna, on Thursday said "collapses in the archaeological digs of Pompeii are a closed chapter". The director of the ancient city, which was smothered in lava and ash by the...
READ MOREArchaeologists have unearthed the petrified remains of a harnessed horse and saddle in the stable of an ancient villa in a Pompeii suburb. Pompeii archaeological park head Massimo Osanna told Italian news agency ANSA that the villa belonged to a high-ranking military officer, perhaps a general, during ancient Roman times. Osanna was quoted on Sunda...
READ MOREPompeii may have had a theatre already at the time of the arrival of the Samnites in the fourth century BC, Superintendent Massimo Osanna said Thursday after the discovery of a concave area next to the second-century BC theatre that was preserved by the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius. The new digs at the famed archaeological site have "raised this hypo...
READ MOREArchaeologists have found a fresco in an ancient Pompeii bedroom that depicts a sensual scene of the Roman god Jupiter, disguised as a swan, and a legendary queen of Sparta from Greek mythology. The figure of Leda being impregnated by the god in swan form was a fairly common home decoration theme in Pompeii and Herculaneum, another town destroyed i...
READ MOREItalian news agency ANSA says new excavations in the ancient buried city of Pompeii have yielded the undisturbed skeletons of people who took refuge from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D.79. The director of the Pompeii archaeological site, Massimo Osanna, told ANSA on Wednesday the skeletons were still intact, having been left undisturbed desp...
READ MORENew excavations in the ancient buried city of Pompeii have yielded a truly historic find: a charcoal inscription apparently dating the eruption of Mount Vesuvius to October of A.D. 79, two months later than originally thought. Culture Minister Alberto Bonisoli was on hand for the announcement Tuesday in Pompeii, where earlier this month archaeologi...
READ MOREA house with a room containing a 'lararium', a shrine dedicated to the Lares, protectors of the ancient Roman home, has been discovered in Pompeii and exclusively visited by ANSA. The room, which is incredibly well-preserved and has the largest lararium found to date in Pompeii, is an "enchanted garden", experts said. Its walls are painted with sna...
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