Pompeii (with a stop for pizza in Naples)

The next morning, Jen and I boarded a high-speed train in Florence. The train stopped in Roma Termini, Rome's main train station--dedicated to the late John Paul II--where Nathan boarded to meet up with us for two days after he and his parents parted ways. Then, it was on to Napoli Centrale.

Naples is held to be the birthplace of Italian wood-fired pizza, and the two "best" pizzerias in Italy are across the street from each other in a seedy neighborhood about 1/3 of a mile from Napoli Centrale. It was about noon, so I felt all right about it, but I would not recommend walking these streets at night. When we would ask locals to point us in the right direction, they almost invariably said, "Well, it's down there, but be careful."

Fortunately, we walked to and from the train station with ourselves and our wallets, passports, and bags all intact. The pizza was delicious--definitely the best I had in my 2.5 weeks in Italy, but I must say, I still think the Panna pizza at Delfina Pizzeria in SF is better. Could it be the best in the world? I will do my best to eat more pizza (including one from PIzzeria Bianco in Phoenix if I ever get around to it) and sort this important question out.

Napoli Centrale and the commuter train we were taking to Sorrento, the Circumvesuviana, are notorious as two of the largest pick-pocket risks in Italy. I have heard about travelers that entered Napoli Centrale on one train just to transfer to another one, and in those few minutes lost their wallets and passports. Picks work in teams, distract you, employ their small children, and have many other tricks. Our train to Sorrento had many shady-looking characters, and compounding this was the fact that when I watched them at our initial station and then on our train, they would switch between acting like they knew each other and then acting like they didn't. The biggest potential pick near us, who was pretty blatantly looking everyone over for bags and wallets, just *happened* to stand up right next to me (in between stops) the second I stood up for just an instant to shift my large pack. As soon as he saw I was sitting down right away, he realized he needed to sit down again, too. Likely, he was expecting me to load up and buckle up, at which time he would brush by me and see what he could get. We weren't too worried, because the picks in Italy are not trying to rob you, they are trying to steal passively. They typically won't become aggressive, they are just hoping you won't notice when they get something from your pocket. All of our things were fine because our passports, wallets, credit cards, cash, etc. were all in a pouch that hugs my body under my clothes. If you're going to be traveling in Europe, be sure to buy one of these. It's not worth losing your passport or cash reserves to a pick.

So, right, Pompeii.

We actually did not plan on visiting Pompeii when I planned our trip. However, we were going to shoot through Naples on our way to the Amalfi Coast, and the best way to get to Positano was by the commuter train from Napoli Centrale and then a bus from Sorrento. It just so happened that the commuter train stops a block from the entrance to Pompeii, and the ticket office has a luggage check service. Having heard positive reviews from all of our friends that have visited the ruins, we opted to spend the afternoon there on our way to Positano.

Most of you probably know the story of Pompeii. It was a thriving port town under the Roman Empire until, in 79 AD, Mt. Vesuvius, a nearby volcano, erupted. The volcano had not erupted for approximately 1200 years, so for the citizens of Pompeii, there was no knowledge that the volcano was active. When Vesuvius did erupt, it buried the prosperous town of 20,000 under falling plumes of ash, dooming thousands. The irony, however, is that because Pompeii was destroyed by Vesuvius, it was preserved for history. The ruins were incredibly well-preserved. The town was rediscovered in the mid-1700s, and it provides us with our best view of what life was like in a Roman city. The Roman Forum and the amazing ruins in Rome give us an idea of the glory of that great empire, but they provide little about day-to-day life of typical Roman citizens. This is why Pompeii is so important--it was a prosperous Roman city full of homes, restaurants, brothels, and pagan temples. The stone roads have grooves from years of chariot traffic. We can see art, frescos, mosaics, pottery, and other decorative pieces from the time.

One important thing to understand is that for a Roman citizen, life was more advanced than we would assume. 2,000 years ago, "Rome" was equated with civilization itself. You were either Roman (i.e., a citizen of the empire), or you were a Barbarian. Remember that when Paul was arrested in Acts, he asserted that he had special procedural rights as a Roman citizen. Romans diverted rivers, built aquaducts to bring fresh water hundreds of miles to their cities, had working plumbing with running water, and with the help of arches, they built structures far greater than the Greeks or any other empire before them. When the Roman Empire fell and the Barbarians sacked Rome, society actually relapsed, and in the Middle Ages, the quality of life in the western world fell far below what was known in Roman cities.

Pompeii was a pretty amazing experience. The extent of the ruins is far larger than I had ever imagined--block after block of homes, temples, and squares--and there are still large portions that have yet to be excavated. There are large pagan temples, such as the Temple of Jupiter (Zeus in Greek mythology), ruins of a large hall of justice, and homes from low-class, one-room abodes to large palatial residences. In addition, there is a Greek-style theater and a large amphitheater that likely hosted athletic competitions and gladiatorial fights.

However, some of the most striking remnants were not the structures themselves. Seeing the artwork, tilework, marble countertops, and ceramics from that time was really incredible and provided a great glimpse into the lives and homes here. Furthermore, when archeologists were excavating the site, they would fill gaps in the lava with plaster and then excavate around that. Sometimes, this would reveal the shapes of residents and household pets (the bodies, wrapped in lava, decomposed, leaving voids in the shape of the person or animal). This allows us to see the positions of people and animals at the time they met their doom, which was very striking. Some appear to be weeping or praying, laid out prostrate, or writhing in pain. (Neat pictures in the album here.)

I have always had a strong interest in history and in the Roman Empire, so I very much enjoyed this experience, but I would recommend it to anyone. In Gladiator, Marcus Aurelius asks Maximus how it is that he has such allegiance to Rome when he has never actually been there. The answer is that Rome was civilization itself--"I've seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark. Rome is the light." When you imagine the structures and cities that the Romans built thousands of years before modern engineering knowledge and equipment, the quality of life--including running water and working plumbing--the empire provided to its citizens (in contrast to "Barbarian" lifestyles), and the respect for government and law in an otherwise ruthless world, it seems reasonable to suspect that many felt that way at the time.

- R