Herculaneum Archaeological Park

Parco archeologico di Ercolano - Herculaneum (NA), according to legend, is a Roman city founded by Hercules destroyed and covered by ash, lapilli and mud from the eruption of Vesuvius in 79. Found by chance in 1709 following excavations for a well, archaeological investigations began in 1738 and over the centuries led to the opening of the archaeological park which together with the archaeological park of Pompeii and that of Oplontis form a UNESCO site.

Herculaneum is the only city in the ancient world to have preserved buildings up to the third floor and in which organic finds can be seen (wooden doors and windows, beams and architraves). Ancient Herculaneum extends for about 15 hectares, we can only see a third, because the remaining part is covered by the new city of Herculaneum. The most fascinating parts of the park are: - the Sacellum of the Augustals, a quadrangular building where two important frescoes are preserved, the first is that of Hercules entering Olympus accompanied by Jupiter, Juno and Minerva and the second is that of Hercules against Achelous; -the house with a mosaic atrium, where the mosaic floor has the shape of a wave due to an earthquake preceding the eruption.