A Day Frozen in Time: The Complete Pompeii Experience

Walk through 2,000-year-old streets, grand villas, and tragedy frozen in ash

Pompeii · 11 stops · 3.8 km · ~1.5 h · Generated

  1. 1. Porta Marina

    Via Villa dei Misteri, 2, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

    Porta Marina

    Before you stands the grand Porta Marina, or the Marine Gate. Two thousand years ago, the sparkling blue waves of the Mediterranean splashed much closer to where you stand right now. Volcanic ash and land movement pushed the sea nearly two kilometers away, but when this gate was built around eighty BC, salt air greeted every traveler climbing up this steep hill.

    Look closely at the architecture. Notice how it features two separate barrel-vaulted arches carved into the stone walls. The larger arch was built for pack animals, horses, and heavy carts loaded with olive oil and wine. The smaller arch to the side was reserved strictly for pedestrians. Because the slope leading up to the Forum was so steep, carts struggled with the climb, making this gate a bustling bottleneck of shouting merchants and braying mules.

    Did you know that ancient Romans did not call it Porta Marina? Archaeologists believe they called it the Gate of Neptune, or the Forum Gate. When workers excavated this spot in eighteen sixty-one, they discovered a tiny niche holding the shattered statue of Minerva, guardian goddess of wisdom, set there to protect visitors as they entered.

    Imagine stepping through these dark concrete vaults on a warm summer afternoon in seventy-nine AD. You would hear the echoing footsteps, inhale the sharp smell of salted fish and wine, and catch your very first glimpse of Pompeii's magnificent Forum lying just ahead.

  2. 2. Terme del Foro

    Via del Foro, 26, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

  3. 3. Basilica di Pompei

    Vicolo delle Terme, 2, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

  4. 4. Casa del Fauno

    Via Villa dei Misteri, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

  5. 5. Tempio di Apollo

    Via Villa dei Misteri, 4, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

  6. 6. Terme Stabiane

    Via dell’Abbondanza, 55, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

  7. 7. Teatro Grande

    Piazza Esedra, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

  8. 8. Terme Suburbane

    Via Marina, 6, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

  9. 9. Casa del Poeta Tragico

    Vicolo Della Fullonica, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

  10. 10. Thermopolium di Vetutius Placidus

    Via dell’Abbondanza, 8, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy

  11. 11. Orto dei Fuggiaschi

    Vicolo dei Fuggiaschi, 80045 Pompei NA, Italy