After Pompeii we headed to the famous Amalfi coast, which is only about an hour from Pompeii and around a headland from Sorrento. However, it turns out that you can't drive a motorhome on the corniche road, which when you go there you realise why - it's much too narrow, windy and busy. Even cars are limited to every other day according to their reg. number. So there was nothing for it but to stay at a campsite up in the hills, and get a bus in to Amalfi.
We stayed in a village called San Lazzaro, which was high up in the hills overlooking the coast. The road was a dead end and ended up with these fantastic views up the coast, here looking in the direction of Amalfi and Salerno, which are out of view.
Looking straight down - the sea is not so far as the crow flies. We had dinner at a restaurant near here with a large terrace with these views (not that we could see, it was dark!).
The next day we visited Amalfi, but I will do that in the next post as I have many photos. The following day we visited Ravello, which this post is about.
It took an hour to get to Amalfi from San Lazzaro and after much winding about down the mountainside we came out onto the corniche road, which was very scenic. We then had to get another bus to Ravello, which was another half an hour ride up the mountainside again! The views from where we got off the bus were worth it though. Here we are looking towards Maiori, in the opposite direction from Amalfi.
Ravello is only a little place so it didn't take long to wander around. We had a pizza on a terrace overlooking the sea (yes, there are lots of restaurants like that around here!)
Above and below, the Duomo (cathedral) of Ravello and the old tower on the right is the Torre Maggiore, a part of the Villa Rufolo. It dates back to the 13th century.
Typical souvenir shops include a lot of lemon related paraphenalia - Amalfi lemons and the slightly different Sorrento lemons have been grown in this area for centuries.
After lunch we visited the Villa Rufolo which is next door to the cathedral. The villa was empty which was disappointing as the only thing of interest were beautiful patterned tiled floors (I should have taken a photo) but it was really about the outside and the views to die for.
Part of the villa and our shadows at the bottom! This is part of a Moorish cloister.
It would be nice to have a garden with a view like this!
We were lucky to have the perfect weather which really brought out the blue of the sea. It was far less humid on this side of the headland - I think the humidity around Naples is caused by the smog. Who knows.
And back out into the village - they sell some interesting things here! 😀
The day was spoiled somewhat by the crush for the bus from Amalfi back to San Lazzaro and missing the first bus as we were nowhere near the bus doors when it stopped, so no chance to get on. We waited an hour for the next one, which luckily pulled up right where we were standing. Again there was a huge crush to get on but this time we were determined so we elbowed our way on, and got seats!
It was great to stay here for a few days but we wouldn't have wanted to go through that experience again, having already had a hassle the day before getting back from Amalfi which I'll tell you about in the next post. Really there are just far too many people for the amount of buses. Probably the best thing to do is to visit later in the afternoon, have dinner out then get a later bus back. But you don't know until you know.
I'm not sure where this picture was taken - it might have been in the House of the Vettii actually, but it's worth sharing no matter where it was located!
This is likely to be another bakery, with the oven at the back and millstones there on the left.
House of Leda
This house is so named due to a fresco (below) discovered of 'Leda and the Swan'; Leda being the famous queen of Sparta and Zeus who had been transformed into a swan. Click on the photo to see it larger and sharper.
On a personal note, those columns of florals, especially the one in the foreground right is a reminder of how we have not changed a lot in 2000 years - I know it's not in fashion right now but who remembers floral stencils around doorways and across the tops of walls some 30 odd years ago? 😁
We did have a photo of Priapus, the god of fertility, and his unfeasibly large phallus after all (fans of Viz comic from the 80s/90s will understand that joke reference!). I had read that this house also had a fresco of him weighing his overly large penis on a weighing scale. Click on the photo to view larger, if you wish! 😀
House of Sirico
This was the house of Publius Vedius Sirico, known due to the discovery of a bronze ring seal bearing his name, along with other things which confirmed he was an important man in political and commercial life in Pompeii.
The house was originally two that over time were made into one dwelling, and there were two courtyards with basins in the centre as seen in the two photos below.
Casts of bodies found in this house
The people who died at Pompeii were not subjected to such intense heat as at Herculaneum, and they died sometimes with their clothes intact. They were covered in ash and pumice, which hardened to stone over time and when the area was excavated, the space where the body once was left an imprint in the rock. Impressions of the bodies have been made by putting liquid plaster inside the rock cavity then chipping off the rock, leaving the outline of the people who died. Some still have their clothing visible in the plaster impression. As they wore mostly woollen clothing, it doesn't burn easily. Over 1,000 victims have been found at Pompeii. There's an article about it with photos here if it interests you, but there's enough information in this info panel in the photo below as well.
Casts of what looks like two bodies, maybe three? Not sure these are the ones referred to above in the description.
This was the Great Exedra, a room used for banqueting.
An oven, also a part of the House of Sirico.
We then went to look at the theatre, the Odeon, which was the smaller of two theatres in this area. This would have been a roofed building originally.
The Quadriporticum originally served as a covered passage behind the theatre for spectators to use during intervals between shows. After the earthquake of 62AD its function changed and became the place where gladiators used to exercise in, and also contained barracks for them. This is a rare example of how Romans reused and repurposed buildings over time.
The Temple of Isis - one of the first discoveries during the excavation of Pompeii in 1764. This is actually the second structure as the original was damaged during the earthquake of 62AD.
House of the Wild Boar - currently closed so K took this picture through the locked gate. If you click on the photo you'll see the mosaic better. It looks more like a wolf than a boar really, although this animal does have tusks.
Palestra dei Iuvenes - a gymnasium for young men, but again closed and the photo of the mosaic in the entrance hall was taken through a gate.
And back on the main road coming towards the Forum area again. Overall we walked around a lot of the western side but really, considering the size of the town, we only saw a small amount of what there is to see! However after about 4 hours in the heat and humidity, we felt that was enough so called it a day mid afternoon.
And that, my friends, is the last of our photos of Pompeii, indeed the last of anything Roman for the rest of our trip! From your comments, it seems I'm not the only person who finds Roman history and culture fascinating. Thank you.
The House of the Vettii
This house was owned by two former slaves, Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus, who had somehow made their fortune in the wine trade after becoming Freedmen. It was originally excavated in the late 1800s and wax was painted over the frescoes in an attempt to preserve them, which proved difficult to remove. We were lucky to see this house as it was only opened to tourists in 2023 after two decades of restoration work! It is absolutely full of frescoes and just astonishing. Due to so many photos between K and me I have made this whole post about this house, and will finish off Pompeii in the next post.
There was a model showing the layout of the house which is always useful - there were so many rooms here but many rooms in Roman houses were very small. Every room was painted - different styles in different rooms, just like how we might decorate our houses two thousand years later! Many of the main pictures were of mythological stories and it is the same in all the houses we saw.
Dionysus and Ariadne watching a fight between Eros and Pan.
The room that the above picture is in.
This painting depicts Cyparissus, Apollo's lover, who was turned into a cypress tree after killing Apollo's beloved stag.
A Lararium - a shrine to the gods of the household are found in many Pompeiian households. Here, the lararium imitates the form of a temple. Columns support a pediment, and frame a central painting. Two dancing lares (guardians of the family, who protect the household from external threats) hold raised drinking horns. They are positioned on either side of the genius (who represents the spirit of the male head of the household), who is dressed in a toga and making a sacrifice. Beneath them all is a serpent. Snakes are often depicted in lararia, and were considered guardian spirits of the family. Text taken from this web page.
If you read this text, you will see at the end that it mentions a slave girl selling herself to clients for the sum of two asses (coins).
And this is the room in question with erotic paintings on the wall!
An inscription on a wall refers to a 'Greek woman of pleasant manners' who was paid two copper coins. We couldn't actually enter this room, just look from the doorway, so we didn't see the actual graffiti.
This is the atrium and talking of erotic, I missed completely in this room, because I didn't know at the time that it was there, a picture of the god of fertility, Priapus, with his gigantic penis resting on a weighing scale! Apparently it used to be covered up back in the Victorian times when they were prudish about such things. Erotic art was common in Pompeii however.
Warships in a naval battle.
If you look at the next few pictures larger, you will see several faces peeking over the walls. Not sure what they signify. The main painting is the 'Punishment of Ixion'.
Courtyard with peristyle (pillars with roof over). Still more frescoes!
A different style in this room which is very red with black friezes.
Hercules killing a serpent.
Hope you enjoyed this tour around this incredible house full of amazing works of art! These kind of paintings are not my thing at all; mythological creatures and religious paintings normally bore the pants off me as I'm a nature and landscape art loving person, but to see art like this in situ from nearly 2,000 years ago is just mind blowing!
