Herculaneum

The volcanic surge that buried Herculaneum in AD 79 sealed it under some twenty metres of material and carbonised what usually rots away: wooden beams, doors, furniture and even food. Many houses keep their upper storeys, and the small seaside town survives in a state of preservation that even nearby Pompeii rarely matches.

Visitors look down on the excavated streets from the edge of modern Ercolano, which still covers much of the ancient town, before descending into them. Highlights include the House of the Wooden Partition, the glittering wall mosaic in the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, and the Suburban Baths. On the ancient shoreline, the boat sheds where around 300 skeletons of people who had fled to the beach were found give the site a sombre human focus.

Excavation began with Bourbon-era tunnels in 1738, and open-air digging followed from 1927. Signs refer to the site as the Parco Archeologico di Ercolano. Far more compact than Pompeii, it can be explored in a few unhurried hours.