Sea and Sky Italy

Herculaneum

After the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., the town of Herculaneum was buried under approximately 20 meters of lava, mud and ash.
Herculaneum lies at the western foot of Mount Vesuvius, on the Gulf of Naples, just southeast of the city of Naples and Northwest of Sorrento.
It has been progressively excavated and made accessible to the public since the mid-18th century. The vast expanse of the commercial town of Pompeii contrasts with the smaller but better-preserved remains of the holiday resort of Herculaneum.
Today, only a fraction of the ancient centre has been liberated from the bank of tufa which overcame it, and on which the current city is built.
Herculaneum is about 50 minutes from Sorrento and can easily be reached either by car (Highway – Autostrada - A 3 Naples-Salerno) or by train, using the Circumvesuviana railway (Ercolano-Scavi station).