THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS OF POMPEII,HERCULANEUM AND OPLONTI

The archaeological excavations of Pompeii have returned the remains of the ancient city of Pompeii, near the hill of Civita, at the gates of modern Pompeii, buried under a blanket of ashes and lapilli during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79, together with Ercolano, Stabia and Oplonti. The findings following the excavations are one of the best testimonies of Roman life, as well as the best preserved city of that era; most of the recovered finds are kept at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples: just the considerable quantity of finds was useful to understand the uses, customs, eating habits and art of life of over two millennia ago. The archaeological excavations of Herculaneum have returned the remains of the ancient city of Herculaneum, buried under a blanket of ashes, lapilli and mud during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79, along with Pompeii, Stabiae and Oplonti. Found by chance following the excavations for the construction of a well in 1709, the archaeological investigations in Herculaneum began in 1738 to continue until 1765; resumed in 1823, they were interrupted again in 1875, up to a systematic excavation promoted by Amedeo Maiuri starting from 1927: most of the finds found are housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, while in 2008 the virtual archaeological museum was founded. shows the city before the eruption of Vesuvius. For archaeological excavations of Oplonti we mean a series of archaeological finds belonging to the suburban Pompeian area of Oplontis, buried together with Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae after the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD: today the archaeological area is located in the center of the modern city Torre Annunziata and includes an otium villa called "di Poppea" and a rustic villa called "B or Lucius Crassius Tertius". The first campaigns of excavations in the oplontine area were carried out first in the eighteenth century and then during the second half of the nineteenth century, although the first systematic excavations took place in 1964, bringing to light the Villa di Poppea. In 1974 the Villa of Lucius Crassius Tertius was found: to date, the explorations of the two structures have not yet been completed.