GUIDED TOURS WITH AN ARCHAEOLOGIST

Local Guided Tours

Enjoy with us the best guided tours in Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Naples Archaeological Museum with a private – just for you – archaeologist for exploring the heritage of our enchanting Past

Shore Excursions

We provide a selection of shore excursions for the highlights of the Region such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Amalfi Coast and so on for a unique and unforgettable experience.

Accessible Guided Tours

A selection of itineraries designed for disabled visitors interested in Cultural Tourism in the most fascinating places of Campania.

Whether alone or in groups …

ABOUT ME?

Dario Davide

Biography:

My name is Dario, I’m 56 yeas old and I’m from Sorrento, in the bay of Naples (Italy).

Credentials:

Historian – University “Orientale” of Naples (Italy)
Archaeologist – University “Luigi Vanvitelli” of Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Caserta) – Italy.
I’ve been a licensed guide of the Campania Region since 1996.
I’ve been working as archaeological guide for 25 years in Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Archaeological Museum of Naples, etc.
In 2017 as an archaeologist, I took part in the excavation campaign in Cuma together with the “L. Vanvitelli” University of Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Italy)
In 2019 as an archaeologist, I took part in the excavation campaign in Stabia – Villa Arianna together with the prestigious “Hermitage Museum” of Saint Petersburg (Russia)

What kind of person are you?

THEMED TOURS IN POMPEII

ART FOR LOVE

On Sundays we arrange for free private tours in Pompeii for disabled visitors and their families. The tours will be guided by a real English-speaking archaeologist.

LAST ARTICLES OF OUR ARCHAEOLOGICAL BLOG

Latest News

- STEFANO DE CARO AND THE CITY WALLS OF POMPEII – Part II
  January 12, 20203. The third and final phase, as can be seen today from the long stretch of walls between “Porta Ercolano” and “Porta Vesuvio”, has three walls containing two embankments preserved in excellent condition. The flat topped layer of earth between the first two walls was used as a walkway, as was the top of the second embankment (also probably flat but raised higher than the previous one). The remaining part of the second embankment, which is lower towards the interior of the city, served mainly to strengthen the fortification. The third and last wall, in addition to containing the thrust of the second embankment, also delimited the route of a road that, at least in this area of the city, skirted the city walls. Along the stretch of walls between “Porta Ercolano” and “Porta Vesuvio”, three of the original twelve rectangular towers (named clockwise, XII, XI and X) are well preserved, and near the “Porta Ercolano”, the remains of a monumental staircase which served to reach the levels of the flat walkways, is found. To understand why the walls were completely rebuilt several times in Pompeii , we must refer to Poliorcetics, which is the art of besieging and conquering fortified cities. Military technology and technology (in general) changed over the centuries. While the city walls in “pappamonte” stone initially offered effective defense to the city, from the end of the IV and the beginning of the third century BC, a new fortification was built. This was necessary due to change in the strategies of attack and defense of the cities. In the Archaic age in the Greek world, the technique of the siege of the city was adopted with the aim of isolating it from its territory and forcing it to surrender due to lack of food resources or due to the exhaustion of the war arsenal. The only alternative to break the pressure of the enemy siege was to leave the (refuge of the ) city walls and face an open battle. To defend itself from the besiegers a particularly powerful fortification was not necessary since the function of the city walls was to separate and to protect the population from the besiegers. In the IV century C., with the development of war strategies supported by scientific research and the publication of treatises dedicated to machines and the methods of attack and defense of cities, the old fortifications became obsolete. Thanks to the use of increasingly efficient war machines (as catapults), the new Poliorcetics allowed besiegers to assault and conquer cities by destroying walls and gates. The fortifications thus acquired ever greater importance, not only because defensive measures suitable to frustrate the destructive potential of hostile weapons of war were needed, but also because they had to be set up in such a way as to accommodate throwing weapons of various types, to counterattack pressure from the besiegers. Excerpt from: Marco Fabbri, Difendersi, in Massimo Osanna e Carlo Rescigno, Pompei e i Greci, Electa, 2017, pp. 268-271 For further info about our guided tour of Pompeii This post is also available in: Italian...
- STEFANO DE CARO AND THE CITY WALLS OF POMPEII – Part I
  January 5, 2020Until a few decades ago, it was thought that the first urban nucleus of Pompeii was much more limited than what is seen today. It was believed that the walls developed around the “Vicolo del Lupanare”, “Vicolo degli Augustali” and ” Vicolo dei Soprastanti ”, that is the area closest to the current Forum. This theory was also reinforced by the presence, in the aforementioned area, of a road network oriented in a different manner from the rest of the city. It was then thought that, later, around the fifth century BC, the city had developed towards the East and North. In other words, it was believed that, after an initial urbanistic phase where Pompeii developed over just 9.3 hectares, it later spread to over 63.5 hectares. (SEE NOTE) During his directorship of the excavations of Pompeii from 1982 to 1984, Stefano De Caro started a series of archaeological digs in the Vesuvian city, both in the northern sector of the fortification, near the Tower XI, and in the southern, in the section between Porta Nocera and the Tower IV. Today, based on the archaeological results coming from those important excavation campaigns, it is believed that three different generations of city walls were superimposed in the Vesuvian city over the centuries: 1. The first, and oldest, is in local tufa stone, the so-called “pappamonte”, and dates back to at least the 6th century. b.C. In this first phase the walls cover already roughly the same way as the current one, except for the north-eastern corner (where Porta di Nola would be built), where the path seems to have moved slightly towards the west. Their structure was very simple and consisted of a few rows of square blocks in “pappamonte” or tender lava stone, above which an embankment (on the outer wall) no more than 3 meters high was set. A “pomoerium” lane ran along the inner edge of the city walls. 2. The second wall circuit consisted of two curtains of “Calcare del Sarno” (Limestone) and an inner core of ground wrought with flakes of stone. The walls were in orthostates, ie, slabs placed vertically, but to allow better interlocking of the walls with the filling soil, rows of limestone blocks were arranged horizontally at regular distances, in order to be able to penetrate the ground. These “pre-sannitic” walls of Pompeii reflect the typical characteristics of Greek construction method, defined by archaeologists as “emplekton”, borrowing the term from Vitruvius who used it to define the inner core of the double curtain walls. This type of city walls, already extensively attested in the Greek “pòleis” (cities) of the Gulf of Naples (“Neapolis” and Cuma), seems to date back to the 4th century AD. NOTE = Eugenio La Rocca, Mariette e Arnold de Vos, Guida archeologica di Pompei, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1976, pp. 12-13 Excerpt from: Marco Fabbri, Difendersi, in Massimo Osanna e Carlo Rescigno, Pompei e i Greci, Electa, 2017, pp. 268-271 For further info about our guided tour of Pompeii This post is also available in: Italian...

This post is also available in: Italian