As opposed to Pompeii, it’s possible to visit all of Herculaneum in just a few hours. The archaeological park is ideal stop for those who have limited time but want to experience the thrill of walking in the footsteps of the ancient Romans!
Ercolano is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania of Southern Italy. It lies at the western foot of Mount Vesuvius, on the Bay of Naples, just southeast of the city of Naples.
HIGHLIGHTS
The medieval town of Resina was built on the volcanic material left by the eruption of Vesuvius (79 AD) that destroyed the ancient city of Herculaneum, from which the present name is derived.
Ercolano is a resort and the starting point for excursions to the excavations of Herculaneum and for the ascent of Vesuvius by bus. The town also manufactures leather goods, buttons, glass, and the wine known as Lacryma Christi (Tears of Christ).
Main landmarks
Archeological Site of Herculaneum
The Archeological site of Herculaneum (in Italian: Scavi di Ercolano) is the area south of the town centre of modern Ercolano where the Roman town of Herculaneum has been excavated. Herculaneum was destroyed and buried by lava and mud during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79 together with Pompeii, Stabiae and Oplontis. In 1997 the Herculaneum site was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Although Herculaneum was discovered before Pompeii, the excavation was so difficult that it was repeatedly interrupted in favour of the easier excavation of Pompeii. Herculaneum is smaller and less famous than Pompeii, but better preserved due to the different volcanic materials that covered the town. In Herculaneum there are many wooden remains (doors, furniture, beams) and organic goods (fruit, bread, seeds, rope) that were burnt in Pompeii. Many Herculaneum buildings still retain their upper floors either entirely or in part. The excavated area of Herculaneum consists of only one quarter of the entire ancient town because the rest of the site still lies beneath modern Ercolano.
A new entrance was recently opened at the eastern side of the archaeological site with a large parking area for cars and buses, souvenir stands, and public gardens. In Corso Resina n. 123 there is the old entrance to the underground Theatre of Herculaneum, the first of the ancient town’s monuments to be discovered and made famous around the world. Access to the Theatre has to be negotiated with the office of Scavi di Ercolano depending on the conditions underground.
Today the archaeological site is visited by some 300,000 tourists every year. In 2012 it recorded 288,536 visitors and was the 16th most visited monument in Italy.[6]
Basilica of Santa Maria a Pugliano
Basilica of Santa Maria a Pugliano: the high altar with the wooden statue of Madonna di Pugliano of the 14th centuryMain article: Basilica of Santa Maria a Pugliano
The Basilica Pontificia of Santa Maria a Pugliano, in Piazza Pugliano, is the main church of Ercolano and the oldest in town and the area all around Mt. Vesuvius.
Il Miglio d’Oro (The Golden Mile)
The Miglio d’Oro is the leg of Corso Resina ( the old Strada Regia per le Calabrie) in Ercolano from the Archeological Site of Herculaneum leading to Torre del Greco where are lined the largest, the finest and the most sumptuous villas designed by the best architects of that time and built in the 18th century by the noble families of the Kingdom of Naples around the Royal Palace of Portici. The most famous are Villa Campolieto, Villa Favorita and Villa Aprile. All the villas had backside gardens and woods, some of them rivaling with the ones of the Royal Palace.
In 1997 the Miglio d’Oro, together with Mount Vesuvius, was included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under the Unesco’s Man and Biosphere Reserve Programme.
Although the expression Miglio d’Oro was created in the 19th century to highlight the splendor of the buildings along the leg of old Strada Regia per le Calabrie in Ercolano (Resina) and the beginning of Torre del Greco, it was recently and inappropriately expanded to a broader area where the 121 villas of the 18th century listed by the Ente per le Ville Vesuviane were built; this area includes the Neapolitan quarters of Barra, San Giovanni a Teduccio and Ponticelli, and the towns of San Giorgio a Cremano, Portici and the whole territory of Torre del Greco.
Villa Campolieto was built in 1755 and designed by Luigi Vanvitelli the architect of the Royal Palace of Caserta who enriched the original project of Mario Gioffredo. Despite its austere and simple façade on the street, the internal side facing the sea opens on a magnificent elliptic exedra with a continuous arcade that also functions as belvedere towards the bay of Naples. The staircase leading to the upper floor is one of the most monumental in private buildings: it is surrounded by large windows and evokes the one of the Royal Palace of Caserta. The rooms of the main floor (piano nobile) preserve the original paintings and decoration of Jacopo Cestaro, Fedele Fischetti and Gaetano Magri.
Villa Campolieto hosts the executive office of Fondazione Ente Ville Vesuviane and The School Management Stoà. Also opens for exhibitions, conferences, fairs and festivals. Among the most remarkable events have to be mentioned: the Terrae Motus art exhibition after the earthquake of 1980 and the summer Festival delle Ville Vesuviane.
Villa Favorita, also known as Real Villa della Favorita, was designed by architect Ferdinando Fuga in 1762 for the Principe di Jaci e di Campofiorito who bought and restored a pre-existent smaller building.
From 1879 and 1885 Villa Favorita hosted Isma’il Pasha, former Khedive of Egypt who was worldwide famous after the inauguration of Suez Canal. He decorated the interiors of his apartments with a Moorish style and built some Moorish gazebo in the park.
In the 20th century the park was split in two: the palace with the upper park was used as military facility and the park on the sea (Parco sul Mare della Villa Favorita) was used as firmland and after the earthquake of 1980 was requisitioned by the Town Council for temporary housing the evacuated families. In the nineties the Fondazione Ente per le Ville Vesuviane acquired and restored the wood, with the pavilions and the pier and now uses it for exhibitions, concerts and other events.
The main building alongside Corso Resina is remarkable for its double court and the magnificent semicircular staircase on the backside that connects the main hall of first floor to the park and its visible from Villa Campolieto. The façade was recently restored. The wood needs a major restoration.
Villa Aprile also known as Villa Riario Sforza after the first owner who built it in the second half of the 18th century. It is among the largest villas of Miglio d’Oro and keeps one of the most elegant parks still intact nowadays.
Other interesting and nice villas of the 18th century are: Villa Ruggiero, owned by Fondazione Ente per le Ville Vesuviane, Villa Durante, Villa Granito di Belmonte, Villa Signorini and the Town Hall although the last three are not lined on the Miglio d’Oro.
The street market of Pugliano
The Mercato di Pugliano, also known as mercato di Resina, or simply Resina, is a street market on via Pugliano where second hand and vintage clothes (called “pezze” or “stracci”) are sold, generally at very low prices.
It began after the end of WWII in southern Italy (1943) in order to sell cheap clothes and accessories to the impoverished population after the economic collapse of the war, but quickly became a well-known attraction for seekers of original, bizarre and old fashioned clothes.
It started at the end of 1943 when Anglo-American troops used some villas and buildings on the Miglio d’Oro as barracks and storage. The lorries transporting these materials towards the motorway north of Pugliano area had to drive along via Pugliano and stop at the Circumvesuviana railway crossing. Here, some adventurous inhabitants of the area silently stole, or in some cases bargained for old parachutes and uniforms to produce bras, corsets and dresses to be sold on the street.
Over the years the street market became permanent and some deals were made to import used clothes from the US, Germany and other countries. The clothes arrived at the market in bales that were opened on the street so that people could select from them. Whatever was unsold or too spoiled to be sold was recycled into new clothes or materials in Ercolano or sent to specialized factories in Prato, near Florence. Together with the old clothes the market now also sells leather and fur coats and jackets, some of them of good craftsmanship.
The market flourished in the 1960s and 1970s but went to decline in the last decades of the 20th century. In recent years it has been having a slow revival.
The MAV
The Museo Archeologico Virtuale (Virtual Archeologic Museum) opened in 2005 to give a multimedial approach to the history, lifestyle and habits of ancient Herculaneum, and the tragic events of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
It is an ideal destination for families and students and is centrally located in Via IV Novembre on the way from the Circumvesuviana train station to the northern entrance of the Archeological site from town centre.
The building was erected in the late 1920s as a covered food market. Some years later was converted into school and so was operated until 1980 when suffered major damage by the earthquake and abandoned. After years of complete neglect, at the beginning of the new century the Town Council totally restored it and converted into multi-purpose cultural centre, including the museum, a bookshop and a 300-seat theatre.
Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio
The National Park of Mount Vesuvius was created in 1995 by the Italian Government by establishing the Ente Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio, the body in charge of it. It includes Mount Vesuvius and surrounding Monte Somma, that is what remains of the original larger volcano after the eruption that buried Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabiae and Oplontis in AD 79. It is the smallest National Park in Italy and one of the smallest in the world but it is very important due to the presence of the most famous volcano in the world.
In 1997 Mount Vesuvius as Somma-Vesuvio was included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under the Unesco’s Man and Biosphere Reserve Programme together with the Miglio d’Oro area.
Ecolano is one of the 13 towns that have their territory (or part of it) included in the area of the Park. From Ercolano starts the main street heading to the Gran Cono (12 km from town centre) where visitors can ascend on foot along a panoramic path up to the edge of the huge crater where some fumarole can be seen.
Alongside the first leg of Via Osservatorio are displayed ten stone statues of the permanent exhibition Creator Vesevo that were made in 2005 by as many different international artists.
According to the organization of Ente Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio, some paths in the woods around the Gran Cono are accessible.
From via Osservatorio it’s possible to reach the historic Osservatorio Vesuviano, that was founded in 1845 by the King Ferdinando II of Bourbon and was the first centre for volcanic studies and monitoring in the world. The visits have to be agreed with the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica of Naples.
Culture
Since the time of Roman Herculaneum, the area has attracted famous artists, poets, writers and philosophers. The Villa dei Pisoni, for instance, was an international centre of Epicurean philosophy. In the middle of the 15th century, Antonio Beccadelli, known as Il Panormita, built a villa on the seafront of Resina that was named Plinianum where the fellows of the Porticus Antonianum (also called Accademia Pontaniana after Antonio Pontano) used to gather.
Following the discovery of the buried town of Herculaneum and the start of the excavations, artists, scholars and authors from all around Europe begun to converge to Resina and the ruins of Herculaneum were one of main destinations of the Grand Tour.
Some of the most famous architects, painters, and sculptors of that time worked in the town to design and build the villas of the Miglio d’Oro (The Golden Mile) and many villas became important literary salons.
The town is also home to the MAV, Virtual Archeological Museum, which gives an original multimedia presentation of the history of Herculaneum and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. In addition there is the Creator Vesevo, alongside the street leading to Mt.Vesuvius, an open air permanent exhibition of stone sculptures created by famous international artists in 2005.
