At Pompeii, some of the trails reopened to the public

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mei 26, 2020

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The ancient city of Pompeii, a world heritage site and the second tourist site the most visited in Italy, has re-opened Tuesday its doors to visitors. After more than two months of forced closure, they were still few in number.

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“We shall be lucky if we see ten or twelve people today,” says AFP Carmine, one of the guides among the thirty, waiting near the entrance, with many journalists. His colleague, Valentina Raffone, guide to Pompeii in the past twenty years, expresses his “feeling of emptiness, of sadness, of post-eruption”, referring to the disaster of the first century that brought in history, the ancient site located at the foot of mount Vesuvius. The temperature of each visitor is monitored by a thermal imaging camera, with the obligation to disinfect their hands with gel provided for this purpose.

Route restricted by caution

For this first phase of the reopening, scheduled in two weeks, a single route is predetermined has been put in place. It will be possible to walk along the main streets of the ancient city. It will also be possible to access some of the villas have enough space to allow for social distancing.

“things to see on the route include the ruins are open-air and also domus (home family-roman), where it is possible to make an input and an output so that people can pass so as to avoid the crowds,” explained the director of the site, Massimo Osanna. “We do not expect to see a lot of tourists, so take advantage of this situation and transform it into an opportunity”, he said.

We often come to look at the ruins from the outside and we are very pleased to be able to travel around today. This is fantastic, it was worth the wait.
Colleen, a tourist from the us.

as of 9 June, new routes will be open to visitors, and all will have to book their tickets online, allowing you to select the time slot of their visit. “We said that we were going to enjoy it while it’s quiet and there’s nobody there,” says Alison Lockhart, who came with her husband to his home near Naples, 45 minutes away. Saw the little crowd Tuesday morning, the couple was able to book his / her ticket, at the price of five euros, just before its entry on the site.

Marvin and Colleen Hewson, American couple from Detroit, explain that they have found closed doors when arriving on the site on 7 march, the first day of the confinement in Italy. They spent their quarantine in a BnB located in the vicinity. “We often come to look at the ruins from the outside and we are very pleased to be able to travel around today. This is fantastic, it was worth the wait,” says Colleen.

Rome and the Vatican following the not

The makers have planned to bring in 40 people at a time every 15 minutes in order to ensure the necessary safety and the wearing of masks will be mandatory throughout the visit. Pompeii is the second tourist site the most visited in Italy, after the Colosseum in Rome, with nearly four million visitors in 2019. To the extent that it is déconfine, Italy re-opens gradually from its heritage and its famous landmarks, hoping to raise more quickly the key sector of tourism, which has been undermined by the pandemic Covid-19 which has more than 32,000 deaths in the peninsula.