Pompei

The land below Vesuvius was settled long before Rome, and the Roman city of Pompeii, a wealthy town of 10,000 to 20,000 people, was buried under ash and pumice in the eruption of AD 79. Its ruins were found in 1599, but real excavation began only in 1748, and for nearly two centuries the excavations and the surrounding countryside belonged to the municipality of Torre Annunziata.

The modern town owes its existence to Bartolo Longo, a lawyer who returned to the Catholic faith and dedicated his life to the rosary. In October 1873 he began restoring a dilapidated church in the valley and promoted a festival to Our Lady of the Rosary; in 1875 he obtained a painting of the Virgin from a convent in Naples, reports of miracles followed and pilgrims began to arrive. The cornerstone of a larger church, which he co-founded with Countess Mariana di Fusco, later his wife, was laid on 8 May 1876, and it was consecrated in 1891. The modern town grew up around it and counts 1881 as its founding year.

Land from Torre Annunziata and Scafati was combined to create the municipality of Pompei in 1928, and it was granted the rank of city in 2004. Longo was beatified in 1980 and canonised by Pope Leo XIV in October 2025, and the pope visited the shrine on 8 May 2026. Excavation in the ancient city continues, with new frescoed rooms uncovered in 2024.

Pompei's identity is divided between two worlds a short walk apart. One is the archaeological site, which draws visitors from all over the world; the other is the shrine, a Marian pontifical shrine and the seat of a territorial prelature. Churches, chapels and shrines across the world are dedicated to Our Lady of Pompei, and the painting at the high altar, showing the Virgin and Child giving rosaries to Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena, was crowned by Pope Paul VI in 1965.

The great days of the year are 8 May and the first Sunday of October, when tens of thousands of the faithful come for the Supplica, the prayer of supplication that Longo wrote, recited by devotees everywhere at the same hour, at midday on 8 May. The walls of the basilica are covered with ex-votos left in thanks for favours received. Popes have come repeatedly: John Paul II twice, Benedict XVI in 2008, Francis in 2015 and Leo XIV in 2026.

Everyday culture is that of the towns around Naples: football — the local club is Pompei FC — Sunday family lunches, and the habits of a place that sees visitors every day of the year.

About 23,600 people live in the municipality, whose built-up area runs without a break into Scafati on the far side of the provincial border with Salerno. The population is slightly younger than the Italian average, with more children and fewer over-65s. Pompei borders Torre Annunziata, Castellammare di Stabia and Boscoreale in a densely populated stretch of the Vesuvian plain.

Tourism and pilgrimage drive the economy: guides, shops, restaurants, hotels and transport serve the visitors heading for the excavations and the shrine. Around 2.5 million people a year visit the ruins, and since 2024 their managers have capped daily ticket sales at 20,000 and introduced timed entry in the peak summer season.

Commuters use the Circumvesuviana and the Naples–Salerno railway, and the A3 motorway passes the town. Like everyone who lives near Vesuvius, residents share the region's awareness of living close to one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes, in an area of some three million people.

Pompei eats as the Bay of Naples does. Neapolitan pizza, with its soft, thin dough and high edges, is made with San Marzano tomatoes or the pomodorini del Piennolo del Vesuvio, small tomatoes grown on the volcanic plain south of the volcano, and with buffalo mozzarella or fior di latte.

Campanian pastries fill the shop windows: the sfogliatella, a shell-shaped pastry with a sweet filling, in its layered riccia and shortcrust frolla forms, and at Easter the pastiera, a tart of cooked wheat, eggs and ricotta flavoured with orange flower water. The sfogliatella descends from the Santa Rosa pastry created in a convent at Conca dei Marini on the Amalfi Coast in the 17th century, and is usually bought from a pasticceria rather than made at home.

The slopes of Vesuvius produce Lacryma Christi, Christ's tear, a wine made in white from Verdeca and Coda di Volpe grapes and in red from Piedirosso and Sciascinoso. Limoncello, the lemon-zest liqueur of the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno, is served chilled after dinner.