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In 79 AD, Pompei was a lively Roman town in the outskirts of Neapolis (Naples) in Campania ; this Italian region, situated south of Rome, enjoys a splendid climate and used to be so prosperous and rich that the ancient ones called it " Campania felix ", happy Campania.
The 20,000 inhabitants of Pompei did even not know they lived on the slope of an active volcano. The tragedy, the sudden darkening of the sky, the unceasing rain of burning ash, caught them totally unprepared. It is believed that only a barely thousand survived, and those who did escaped because they fled, as fast as they could, as soon as the catastrophe began. But for those who lingered, simply thinking or hoping that the disaster was going to be over fast, there was no way out.
All this old world was destroyed, and preserved under hardened ash for centuries. Today the Pompei's ruins are known all over the world, but their recovery began only in the XVIII century. And what diggers found was a clear and precious fragment of the ancient Roman world. So walking through Pompei's roads, still marked by the age-old transit of the wagons, we have the impression to be transported back in time of 2,000 years.
The images presented in this page are a very limited sample of what one can see in this marvelous archeological site.
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