Herculaneum Archaeological Site

Better preserved than Pompeii, Herculaneum's organic materials survived under pyroclastic mud. See intact wooden wine racks, carbonized food, and the seaside town's wine shops frozen in 79 AD.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Find the Only Surviving Wine Rack in the Ancient World Wine · Price: moderate

   You're looking at the only intact Roman wine rack on earth. It's carbonized black — the 555°C pyroclastic surge at 1am on August 25, 79 AD hit this room and turned every piece of wood to charcoal in under a minute. Then 23 metres of volcanic tufa sealed it airtight for 1,941 years. The amphorae are still on the shelves — some standing upright (full, for sale), some on their sides (already opened, being served by the glass). Find it at the caupona (wine bar) at Insula V.6, immediately to the right of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite entrance on Cardo IV Superiore. Run your eye along the wooden shelf at head height on the south wall — that's the rack. A tavern price list found at Pompeii reads: '1 as = wine; 2 as = better wine; 4 as = Falernian.'

   Backup: If the shop entrance is rope-off for conservation, the wooden elements are visible from the Cardo IV street level through the open facade. The L-shaped counter is always accessible.

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2. 2 Decode the Last Morning in the Thermopolium Counter History · Price: moderate

   Eight dolia (giant ceramic jars, each the size of a child) are fixed permanently into this counter at the Grande Taberna at Insula IV.16, on Cardo V at the corner with the Decumanus — Herculaneum's busiest intersection. They held cereals and vegetables. The morning of August 24, 79 AD, someone had them stocked and open for business. Around 11am, the first eruption began. Some people fled. Some stayed to serve lunch. Archaeologists found 194 biological taxa in the sewer underneath this building — sea urchin, clams, oysters, multiple fish species, grains, walnuts, figs. That's what Herculaneum's residents were eating the morning they died. Stand at the counter and count the eight dolia, run your hand along the polychrome marble facing — it's the same decorative technique as a Roman villa, on a street-food counter.

   Backup: If this building is closed for conservation, the nearly identical Priapo Taberna (IV.17) next door has the same counter format and similar dolia.

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3. 3 Descend to the Ancient Beach Where 300 People Waited to Die History · Price: moderate

   At 1am on August 25, 79 AD, the first pyroclastic surge rolled down Vesuvius at 300km/h and hit Herculaneum. Temperature: 555–495°C. Death was instantaneous — blood boiled, some skulls exploded from internal steam pressure. Three hundred people were in these boat sheds at that moment, waiting since before midnight for Pliny the Elder's naval rescue fleet. Pliny had sailed from Misenum, 30km away, directly toward the eruption to save civilians. He couldn't land. He died the next morning. The people in these arches never knew he tried. Follow the main site path down to the ancient beach (reopened June 19, 2024) at the southeastern base of the excavation — descend through the tunnel entrance cut into the tufa cliff. Walk the full length of the 12 arched fornici (each arch 5–6 metres wide).

   Backup: The beach is now a permanent open area within the site since June 2024. If seasonal maintenance is underway, the boat shed arches are visible from the main site elevated walkway looking south.

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4. 4 Look Up Through the Site and Find the Library Buried Beneath You History · Free

   Beneath the modern town of Ercolano above you — under roads, under apartment buildings, under everything — lies the Villa of the Papyri, a Roman aristocrat's library that has never been fully excavated. In 1752, Swiss engineer Karl Weber tunneled into it and recovered 1,800 carbonized papyrus scrolls. The owner was almost certainly Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Julius Caesar's father-in-law. In 2023–2024, a team using AI and X-ray phase contrast tomography began deciphering the scrolls WITHOUT unrolling them — reading over 2,000 characters of a previously unknown Philodemus text about whether scarcity of food and wine affects our experience of pleasure. Stand at the northwest edge of the excavation, looking toward the hill where modern Ercolano sits above, and ask yourself: what's under the street grid above the excavation? The answer is 1,800 more scrolls, still carbonized, still sealed, that no one has read since 79 AD.

   Backup: The Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN) in Naples has the physical papyrus fragments on display. The Getty Villa in Los Angeles has the bronze sculpture collection Weber pulled from the villa in the 1750s.

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5. 5 Toast the Tearful Grapes on the Volcano That Buried This City Wine · Price: high · Optional

   Cantina del Vesuvio sits at 200 metres altitude on the exact lava fields that created and then destroyed Herculaneum. The grape variety is Caprettone — a white grape that exists almost nowhere else on earth, grown in lapilli (the same volcanic rock pellets that rained on the boat sheds that night). The wine is called Lacryma Christi — 'Tears of Christ.' The 79 AD eruption destroyed the ancient vineyards on these slopes that supplied the wine shops you just walked through. The vines you're drinking from are the direct successors — same volcano, same soil, same mineral fingerprint. Book the classic tasting (€50pp, 1.5–2 hours) at Via Panoramica 15, Trecase — take the Circumvesuviana train south toward Sorrento, exit at Torre Annunziata, free winery shuttle runs from there (book 3 days ahead via cantinadelvesuvio.it or call +39 081 536 9041).

   Backup: If the winery is full, Viva Lo Re wine bar in Ercolano (on Corso Resina, 5 min walk from the site exit) pours Vesuvio DOC by the glass and is non-touristy. A glass of Lacryma Christi here runs €5–8.

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Insider tips

• Much smaller and less crowded than Pompeii - easier to explore deeply

• The House of the Neptune Mosaic has stunning wine-related imagery

• Wooden furniture including wine racks survived here

• The boat sheds show where residents fled - harrowing but important