Day 96 – 3/20 – Sorrento, Italy

Our port is Sorrento, but it really covers Sorrento, Naples, the Isle of Capri, the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, Herculean and Mt. Vesuvius.

Anyone traveling to this area for the first time, has to chose Pompeii as the “must see” site. Since we went to Pompeii before, but not to Herculean, we are doing a private tour with a small group to Herculean.

Herculean is smaller and more compact than Pompeii. As we understand it, while they were both destroyed by the Mt. Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD. In Pompeii, the ash hits suddenly on the first day, so the residents were caught off guard, and the ash was hot enough to burn any wood that it touched.

In Herculean, the ash did not hit until the second day. Some noxious gas hit first and killed people, and other were warned and got out. The wind shifted on day two, so that is the ash that buried Herculean. It had cooled enough so that the wood was not burned prior to being buried.

Herculean had about 4,000 people living in it. It was buried under about 70 feet of ash.

It is impressive to think about the scope of excavating this site. There was a massive amount of ash to remove, but you would have to be careful and not damage the structures that you want to remain in place. And you’d have to support much of the structure in new ways as the earth was removed.

We understand that there are more large areas that could still be excavated but: a) any unearthed areas will start degrading once exposed, so there is debate on whether to wait until preservation techniques might get better in the future, and b) a new city is built on the 70 feet of ash, so any project would require relocation of many people.

We ended the excursion with a short trip partway up the Amalfi Coast. Our family had driven this 20 years ago. It is a winding, narrow road built into the side of a sheer cliff.