Had the good fortune to have visited there this past April. The place is absolutely fascinating.
That was good fortune. I’m glad something’s getting done, the complaints about the state of Pompeii have gone on for decades. There have been odd problems, like tourists picking up statues and carrying them right on out through holes in the fence, nighttime vandalism by the local gentry, public urination on ancient walls, just wonderful stuff.
OTOH, the place was buried by a volcanic eruption and unmaintained in any fashion for 17 centuries prior to discovery, so, we probably should cut the place some slack. The main reason Pompeii remains in large part unexcavated is that the already exposed parts were having this problems. There’s probably some real amazing stuff yet to be found under the soil, and none of us will ever get to see it, live or in photo.
Four years of Latin, two years of Roman Humanities: I have to go!
I’d like to go there some day myself. How much time would you suggest to see it adequately?
Living in Spain for three years and traveling throughout Europe and North Africa between 1957 and 1960 was a life-long changing experience. I still have hundreds of pictures from our time there that I look at from time to time to relive the memories. It was a one of kind learning learning experience for a kid growing up in that era.
To this day, I am a student of ancient history and my early visits to Rome and Pompeii played a big part in that interest.