Pompeian red as it really was, so intense as to recall the color of wine, shiny shades of ocher, geometrical decorations, but also a whole alley with overhanging balconies with the amphorae left in a corner to dry in the sun. These the newly found treasures that resisted the fury of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that in AD 79 buried the ancient Roman town near modern Naples under 4 to 6 m of volcanic ash and pumice.
Almost two thousand years after the eruption Pompeii returns its true colors along with the exciting findings of the new excavations that for the first time involve an unexplored area of 66 hectares along which the Roman colony extended. New treasures are daily dug up from the soil, but the greatest surprise is a series of buildings with three large balconies overhanging onto an alley with wine amphorae turned into a corner to dry in the sun, all of which was miraculously left almost untouched by the collapse that followed the lava rain.
“An absolute rarity for Pompeii”, underlined Massimo Osanna, director Pompeii archaeological park, commenting on the exceptional recovery to ANSA. Osanna also announced that the houses with balconies will be restored and included in a new path that will connect two other streets of the once-lost town: one of the principal axes, Via di Nola – the major decuman road -, and the Vicolo delle Nozze d’Argento.
Ilona Catani Scarlett