Pompei

I’m taking a SITA bus along the Amalfi Coast. If you’ve ever taken this nerve-racking trip, you know it’s a roller coaster ride. Every time we go around a corner we swing well into the other lane of traffic, and the driver’s blowing his horn frantically. A year ago I actually had to walk the …

Some 2,000 years ago, Pompeii, Italy was a thriving city of shops, taverns, workshops, theatrical shows, and homes with elaborate courtyards. Then, one disastrous August day, Mount Vesuvius blew. The volcano’s eruption smothered Pompeii and everything in it under 60 feet of ash. There the city lay, untouched, until excavation began in the 18th century. Today …