Back to the Past: The Ruins of Pompeii

The exterior fortress outside the ancient city of Pompeii.

Warning: If you clicked on this article looking for the 2013 song by Bastille, you’re in the wrong place.

There is no shade in Pompeii. The trees were burned up centuries ago.

There are no local bars, cafes or fast food restaurants still open for business. Vendors and merchants no longer sail toward the Road of the Sea. Worshippers stopped visiting the Temple of Venus. And Apollo. And Saturn.

Tourists go through the ticket area before the walking through the streets of Pompeii.

On a sunny day in late August, 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius trapped a Roman city in time when it erupted. While neighboring towns like Herculaneum and Stabiae were drowned in volcanic mud, Pompeii suffered a different -- yet equally horrible -- fate.

Today, the streets of Pompeii are overrun with tourists instead of horse carriages and merchants.

If you come to Italy looking to travel back in time, there is (literally) no better place than Pompeii. It is both an archaeological and architectural marvel. However, Pompeii’s architectural importance is not because of the city’s overall Roman design.

Pompeii is an architectural miracle because it exists today just like it did almost 2,000 years ago.

Pompeii is the closest thing we have to visiting an untouched Roman city. It is the longest continuously excavated site in the world, according to the BBC. With 30 percent of the city still buried, its architecture is a key element in uncovering daily life in a bustling Roman city.

When Mount Vesuvius decided to blow its top off, the city was blanketed in volcanic ash and poisonous gases, turning Pompeii into the most famous ghost town in the world.

The ash was a blessing and a curse: the city’s people died almost instantaneously, ceilings collapsed under the pressure and any wood was burned. But, the thick layer of ash created the perfect conditions to preserve the only thing left: the buildings.

Had it not been for the ash, Pompeii’s Roman architecture would have been lost to either magma or the sands of time.

So… thanks, Vesuvius. I guess?

Anna Sofia di Leva, a tour guide, said Pompeii was the typical Roman city, complete with a forum and amphitheatre. Ironically, the fact that Pompeii still exists is the most unique part about it.

“The structure of the city was always the same,” she said.

Regardless, Pompeii’s technology was impressive by today’s standards. They had a knack for using simple materials for making their world a relatively better place to live in. Pompeians were able to keep cool without air conditioning, heat water without gas stoves and grab a quick bite to eat before McDonald’s.

Here’s how:

The Streets

A tourist happily jumps across the street on a Pompeiian crosswalk.

Pompeii's street layout gives insight into how locals got from Point A to Point B. You should know that walking in Pompeii is not the easiest task in the world. Pro-tip: wear sneakers.

Pompeians laid their streets with lava rocks -- an ironic foreshadowing to the city’s demise.

The sidewalks are significantly higher than the street and thankfully so. The center of the streets are raised in the middle, allowing rain water and waste to drain toward the sides.

The average crosswalk is three large lava rocks in a row for people to hop across the gross street. Remember playing “the floor is lava” when you were a kid? It’s the same concept.

Luckily, the streets are clean now, but, unfortunately, the numerous public fountains have been out of service for centuries.

A Pompeiian water fountain that uses a large column to apply water pressure to distribute water around the city.

Pompeii had forty-four lava rock fountains dotted around the city but no running water, according to our guide, Anna Sofia. The city built an aqueduct connected to the fountains by lead pipes. A tall, stone column with pipes inside provided enough water pressure to get the job done.

Of course, using lead pipes for water is fatal, but then again, so is living next to an active volcano.

“Only brave people can live here,” Anna Sofia said.

Pompeians carved the faces of theatre masks and goddesses into the fountains to act as spouts for people to drink out of. On the edge of every fountain is the worn-in spot where people placed their hands as they took a sip.

Terracotta bowls built into a counter was used as an ancient fast-food system.

If you’re hungry, don’t expect much from the fast food joint. On Pompeii’s main street, restaurants sold fish and meat from a counter out of built-in terracotta bowls to keep them warm. Just like a cafe bar in Florence or Rome, locals could walk right up for a quick bite.

The Theatre and Gymnasium

The gymnasium and gladiator rooms in Pompeii.

Entertainment was as important for Pompeii as it is for any modern city today.

In its heyday, Pompeii’s largest amphitheatre held 20,000 spectators who watched plays and gladiator fights underneath the shade of a linen cover. The city’s large theatre, a semi-circle meant for comedies and dramas, can hold 5,000 people and once had a wooden roof.

The levels of the theatre were lined with white marble, which is only partially visible today.

The design made it ideal for sound to travel during performances -- no surround system required. The marble seating helped carry sound from the stage to the back row. If you drop a coin on center stage, everyone should be able to hear it, Anna Sophia said.

Starting around 62 AD, gladiators used the open field next to the theatre as a gymnasium to practice before performances. The space was surrounded by small wooden doors which lead to the gladiators’ simple living quarters.

The Spa

What's left of the cold bath room in the Pompeii spa.

The Ancient Romans are well known for their love of a good bath and spa, and the Pompeians were no exception. Before there were space heaters, there were rocks. Pompeians had rocks for days and ingenuity to spare.

The spa had two entrances to separate men and women. Each side had four rooms: a changing room, a cold-bath room, a tepid-bath room and a hot-bath room. You can see the building’s skeletal remains and some of the interior decorations carved into the ceiling.

In the hot room, terracotta bricks were stacked underneath the indoor pool to retain heat. Pipes connected the pool to a separate room of ovens, where the piping hot water flowed from.

Shelby Patterson, a 21-year-old college student from Dallas, Texas, left her tour of Pompeii impressed by the architecture of the spa.

“I think it’s cool how they figured out ways to heat the water, have air conditioning and have light like we have today,” she said.

Visiting Pompeii

If you plan on witnessing Pompeii’s architecture, I would highly recommend taking a guided tour. With over 3 million visitors a year, Pompeii is one of Italy’s biggest tourist attractions.

However, there are few informational signs planted around the site to explain each building and its significance.

There is a lot of history that is very easy to miss. Having a tour guide like Anna Sofia is helpful when you have no idea what you’re looking at.

Tripadvisor has yet to steer me wrong. The site offers several guided tours of Pompeii in nine language. Some private tours reach about $200, but a top-rated option offers a full-day tour of Pompeii and a hike up Mount Vesuvius for $70.70.

The secrets of Pompeii are hidden in its walls, streets and cracked columns. When you visit Pompeii, you get to witness first-hand how much architecture can reveal about a city’s culture and people.

You have about 50 years until Vesuvius wakes up again, so you should book your ticket soon.