CITY PRESERVED AT THAT POINT IN TIME
By Bob Van Leer

  (NAPLES, Italy, May 23, 1996) - A trip to Pompeii was the highlight of our stay in Naples. We arrived at Naples at 1:00 p.m. after an overnight trip of 336 nautical miles. Naples is a city of 1.5 million, the third largest in Italy, with another 2 million in its suburbs. It is a major port city and dates its origin to 600 B. C. Shortly after tying up to the dock (we backed in), many of us assembled for a tour of Pompeii. One bus won't do because of the multiplicity of languages.

  There was an English bus, an Italian bus, a German bus and a Spanish bus. Pompeii is 14 miles south of Naples over a busy coast highway. The city was built in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, and that was its undoing. Pompeii was familiar with natural disasters, an earthquake in 62 A.D. did a lot of damage to the city. But nothing prepared the city for the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Our guide said the eruption lasted three days and nights and destroyed three towns, of which Pompeii was the largest with 20,000 inhabitants. The city was covered with 30 feet of ash killing 2000 of its inhabitants, according to our guide. The city was abandoned and not rediscovered until 1600.

  Excavations started in 1744 and continue to this day. Our guide said about 80% has been excavated. It is a major tourist attraction drawing 7000 visitors per day. The excavations have uncovered a remarkably preserved ghost city centered around a forum. Buildings were made of brick and stone and faced with a stucco. Frescoes adorn many of the walls looking as bright as the day they were done. The city and its life were preserved as they were on that fateful day. Even some of the people were preserved. Archeologists found hollows in the ash and filled the hollows with plaster of Paris. When this hardened, the ash was removed and a cast of a human body was revealed. Some persons were covered with ash before they could flee and the ash formed a perfect mold. During the centuries, all traces of the bodies disappeared leaving only the cavity in the ash.

  One man appeared to be trying to get out of the ash and poisonous gases. Others are just lying down. Perhaps one day Mt. St. Helens, or some other Cascade volcano, will do this to a northwest city. Near the ancient city were the usual stalls selling merchandise, usually of low quality, to the tourists. One thing that was interesting to me is that a number of the stalls had plaster busts of Benito Mussolini for sale. Mussolini was the Italian dictator who invented fascism and was Adolph Hitler's principal ally in the 1930s and World War II. Fascism may be coming alive in Italy again. We left Naples at 7:00 p.m. for a 221 nautical mile trip to Catania, Sicily. Sicily is a large Italian island just off the "toe" of the Italian "boot". It is separated by the Strait of Messina, which we will pass through tonight.