Pompeii Archaeological Park

Neapel · Italia · Ruin

Tourists post stolen stones back with letters of apology. Naples calls it the curse of Pompeii — and the boxes keep arriving.

The city buried by Vesuvius in AD 79 is first of all a burial ground, and the casts of those who died are treated by the park as graves rather than as an attraction. The legend that lives here is not about the dead but about the stones. Anyone who takes a fragment home is said to be pursued by misfortune, and for decades Pompeii has received a steady stream of parcels: mosaic tesserae, roof tiles, chips of lava and slivers of marble, almost always with a letter in which the sender apologises and lists everything that has gone wrong since the trip. The letters come from all over the world and now number in the hundreds. Because the pieces have lost their findspot they cannot be put back, and are kept in a room of their own. Guides call it la maledizione di Pompei, and staff confirm the boxes keep coming.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Pompeii Archaeological Park?

Pompeii Archaeological Park ligger i Neapel, Italia.