This tour includes a private archaeological English-speaking guide for Pompeii and Stabia (only for You) - Mercedes Car or Minivan with a professional English-speaking driver all day long
The entrance fee in Pompeii, Stabia and Mt Vesuvius are not included.
This private guided tour combines the visit of Pompeii, Stabiae and Mt Vesuvius that destroyed both the cities in Roman times.
Vesuvius is the symbol of the bay of Naples, the volcano which has not blown up since its last rumble in 1944, but experts say it could happen at any time. Yet a relatively easy walk to the crater is certainly a memorable experience.
The eruption of 79 AD is undoubtedly the most famous eruption of Vesuvius and perhaps the most famous volcanic eruption in history. This was described by Pliny the Younger in two famous letters to Tacitus, which are valuable documents for volcanology. In the letters he recounts the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, departed from Misenum with a ship to bring relief to some friends: hence the name of Plinian eruption for this type of phenomenon particularly violent and destructive. In Roman times, at the beginning of the first millennium, Mt Vesuvius was not considered an active volcano and on its slopes stood some flourishing cities, which had developed thanks to the beauty and fertility of the places. In 62 A.D. Vesuvius area was hit by a strong earthquake, which caused the collapse of many buildings and produced damage even in Nucera and Neapolis. At that time it was assumed no relationship between the earthquake and the volcanic nature of the area. On August 24 of the year 79 A.D., Vesuvius returned in activity after a period of quietness that lasted probably about eight centuries, pouring on the surrounding areas, in little more than thirty hours, about 4 cubic km of magma in the form of pumice and ash. The eruption began around one o'clock in the afternoon of August 24 with the opening of the duct as a result of a series of explosions resulting from the immediate volatilization of the water coming from the shallow aquifer in contact with the rising magma. Subsequently, a column of gas, ash, pumice and lithic fragments rose to about 15 km above the volcano.
Among the other cities, Pompeii and Stabiae were buried by tons of ash, and sealed for centuries.
Certainly no Roman archaeological discovery is more important than that of the ancient Pompeii, where a culture was captured forever by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Not only we can see the streets, buildings, furnishings, art, tools, but also plaster casts that reveal the people themselves. From the ruling class down to the slaves, we can see their last moments during those terrible few hours that doomed the city.
The ancient territory of Stabiae stretched in the area occupied by the current cities of Castellammare di Stabia, Gragnano, Lettere, Sant'Antonio Abate, Santa Maria La Carità and Casola di Napoli. The phenomenon that characterized this area until the eruption of Vesuvius was the spread of residential villas and farms. On the plateau of Varano, in a panoramic position on the sea , according to present knowledge, were built luxury villas of considerable size, organized on several levels with terraces. The archaeological activities in recent years have identified in this area over 50 rustic plants for growing olives and vines. Stabiae was founded by the Etruscans in the seventh century BC, and during the sixth century BC the artefacts found there were enriched with the Greek influence or directly they were Greek imports, but also Western imitations produced in Etruscan workshops. It is in that orbit that the Etruscan site of Stabiae seems to play much of its early history, up to join forces later, with the arrival of the Samnites, with the Nuceria confederation. During the Samnite wars the city capitulated after a long siege of the Roman troops in 308 BC. Because of its strategic position, Stabiae was then almost completely destroyed during the social wars. From that moment on, until the eruption of 79 AD, the northern side of the hill of Varano and throughout all Stabian territory began to be populated by luxury residences. Ancient Stabiae was rediscovered during excavations in the eighteenth century on the side of the Varano hill: diggers found some residential neighbourhoods of six villas and ten other villas located inland. In the Bourbon period , as it is known , it was used to recover the precious objects and the decorations and then bury the monuments once again. So the six villas identified on the hill of Varano ( villa at Belvedere , Villa Arianna , Villa San Marco, the so-called Second Complex, Villa del Pastore and that one near Ponte San Marco ) they have been recognized in the current period only four , three of which can be visited today , while the urban layout of Stabiae is still almost completely buried .
