Pompeii tour photo copyrighted by: Galen R. Frysinger Pompei is the most popular tourist city in Italy. The eruption of the volcano Vesuvio (Vesuivius) in 79 A.D. buried the city when it was still part of the Roman empire. The volcano, in fact, is still active, but not much of a threat. The ongoing excavations are open to the pubic. Pompei was inhabited by the Greeks and the Samnites before it became a Roman colony. However, it was devastated by an earthquake in 79 A.D. When Vesuvius erupted 16 years later, about 10 percent of the 20,000 inhabitants died. The eruption did hasten the city's decline, and it was
abandoned during the Saracen raids and earthquakes that followed. The ruins
of the abandoned city weren't discovered until 1594, and the excavation didn't begin until 1748, during the reign of Charles of Bourbon. Work continues today, although many of the famous mosaics and murals that have been recovered have been moved to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples. The Museo Vesuviano
also has Vesuvian-era artifacts.
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