Excavations of Herculaneum: the visit, history, opening hours and tickets

Herculaneum Excavations what to see

Visiting the Herculaneum excavations is an act of love towards history and art. The archaeological park of Herculaneum, although only partially unearthed, includes many unmissable attractions. Here is what to see at the Herculaneum Excavations, what not to miss among noble villas, common houses, shops, and baths.

• Fornici: shelter for boats and warehouses
• Terrace of M. Nonio Balbo: large square in front of the baths area
• Suburban Baths: excellently preserved complex
• Sacred Area: two adjacent temples, west of the Southern Terrace, where the college of the Venerii met
• Shrine of Venus: temple dedicated to Venus
• Shrine of the Four Gods: dedicated to Minerva, Neptune, Mercury, and Vulcan
• House of the Relief of Telephus: three-level house, the second largest
• House of the Deer: servant quarters on the upper floor
• Taberna of Priapus: with basement with hearth where walnuts and a storeroom were found
• Great Taberna: tavern with marble counter
• Vasaria Taberna: on the lower decumanus
• Gymnasium: spacious room intended for recreational and sporting activities
• House with Garden: house without particular decorations but with a large garden
• House of the Great Portal: with a very beautiful semi-columned portal
• Pistrinum and workshop of Sex Patulcius Felix: civic number 8 of Cardo V
• House of the Corinthian Atrium: one of the oldest
• Plumbarius Workshop: belonged to a blacksmith
• House of the Black Hall: with black mosaic floor
• Workshop ad Cocumas: entrance pillar with four depicted jugs
• Workshop: with wooden mezzanine and charred beam
• House of the Tuscan Colonnade: house that over time was merged with an adjacent one
• Thermopolium: refreshment place
• Shrine: faces the main decumanus
• Seat of the Augustales: where commercial and religious life took place
• House of the Two Atriums: with a terracotta Gorgon mask on the door
• Men’s Baths: with division between men’s and women’s baths
• Women’s Baths: very beautiful with seats and furnace for heating
• House of the Beautiful Courtyard: layout dating back to the middle of the first century AD
• House of Neptune and Amphitrite: name due to the beautiful mosaic on the wall depicting Neptune and Amphitrite
• Workshop: grocery shop annexed to the House of Neptune
• Samnite House: house renovated multiple times with original layout from the 2nd century BC
• House of the Alcove: dual access due to annexation of two houses
• House of the Mosaic Atrium: very elegant noble house
• House of the Bronze Herm: small residence with opus sectile floor
• Half-timbered House: rental house with upper floor for multi-family use
• House of the Wooden Partition: house with two waiting seats
• Lanarius Workshop: adjacent to the House of the Partition, this was a cloth seller’s shop
• House of the Genius: accessible only from the back while the front part is not yet uncovered
• House of Argo: main entrance on Cardo II not yet found
• House of Aristides: first building on Cardo II
• House of the Skeleton: a skeleton was found in this dwelling, hence the name
• House of the Inn: presumably an inn due to the baths and size
• Villa of the Papyri and Northern Insulae: recently discovered with the excavations of the new millennium

Map of the Herculaneum Excavations

History of the Herculaneum Excavations

The Roman city of Herculaneum (until 1969 it was called Resìna), near Naples, destroyed and buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, was brought back into historical chronicles in the eighteenth century thanks to the Bourbon explorations. Equipped with modest walls, the inhabited center was built on a volcanic plateau overlooking the sea at the foot of Vesuvius, limited on the eastern and western sides by two streams; two river inlets formed natural and safe harbors.

The size of the city was actually quite modest: it has been hypothesized that the total area enclosed by the walls was about 20 hectares, of which about 4.5 hectares are now visible in the open air, for a population of about 4000 inhabitants.

Only part of the city of Herculaneum has emerged

Despite its centuries-old history, the excavations have brought to light only part of the ancient city of Herculaneum, so much of the ancient Herculaneum remains still buried underground, also preserving the entire forum area, the sacred and civil buildings with their precious furnishings and decorative apparatus.

Currently, most of the accessible archaeological park consists, except for the baths and the gymnasium, of private houses of imperial age, characterized by a great typological variety: houses with traditional layouts, multi-family buildings, large residences that develop part of their quarters in a dominant position overlooking the sea and straddling the walls.

Despite the limits in the extension of the uncovered city, it seems that the urban layout was articulated on at least three decumani (only two excavated in the open air: the lower decumanus and the maximum one, partly pedestrianized with the quadrifrons arch to the west and access to the temple of Magna Mater to the east) intersected by five cardines (only three in the open air), perpendicular to the decumani and the coastline.

The southern boundary of the city is also sufficiently known, with its powerful vaulted substructures (fornici), the overlying terraces with the suburban baths and the large private domus, also articulated on multiple levels. Dionigi of Halicarnassus attributes the mythical foundation of the city to Heracles returning from Iberia, while Strabo reports that the city was first in the hands of the Opici-Osci, then of the Etruscans and the Pelasgi and finally of the Samnites.

If you want to skip the line and visit the Herculaneum excavations with an archaeological guide, we suggest you buy the ticket online.

The arrival of the Romans

Like Pompeii and Stabiae, Herculaneum must also have entered the orbit of the Nucerian confederation. After rebelling against Rome during the Social War, it was attacked and conquered in 89 BC by the legates of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Titus Didius and then was involved in the process of municipalization carried out by the Romans which affected all of central-southern Italy. The city’s life was finally abruptly interrupted by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The peasant Ambrogio Nucerino discovers Herculaneum

Over time, the memory of the location of the ancient Roman city was lost, and only in 1710 a peasant, Ambrogio Nucerino, while digging a well to irrigate his garden, recovered many precious marble fragments, which were only later understood to belong to the theater of the ancient city. Informed of the discovery, the noble Emanuel-Maurice of Lorraine, prince of Elboeuf, bought the well and conducted tunneling excavations in the area at his own expense for nine months, during which he recovered nine statues that he used to honor the powerful of the time.

The Bourbons initiated the open-air excavations

Only in 1738, by the will of King Charles III of Bourbon, systematic tunnel explorations of the ancient site began. In 1828, under the reign of Francis I of Bourbon, the first “open-air” excavations were undertaken, carried out until 1875. After a very long interruption, the work was resumed in 1927 by Amedeo Maiuri, who carried them out until 1958, but already by 1942 almost the entire area that constitutes the current archaeological park had been brought to light and simultaneously restored and covered.

The excavations of Herculaneum in the 1960s

Between 1960 and 1969 further work was carried out in the northern sector of Insula VI and along the maximum decumanus, while in the last twenty years the ancient beach, coinciding with the southernmost strip of the archaeological area, has been explored. In this area twelve rooms with arched entrances (the fornici), shelters for boats and warehouses have been brought to light, where many Herculaneans sought refuge fleeing the eruption.

The excavations of Herculaneum in the 1990s

Between 1996 and 1998 open-air excavations were carried out in the area conventionally called “New Excavations,” connected to the archaeological park proper through a narrow and deep trench that, joining at the level of the House of Aristides, continues with a gallery beneath the modern Vico Mare.

The excavations of the 2000s: Villa of the Papyri and thermal complex

New excavation, restoration and enhancement works were carried out by the Superintendence in 2007-2009 thanks to funding from the European Community; currently structures belonging to the Villa of the Papyri (atrium quarter, lower first floor and terrace over the sea), already explored through underground tunnels in the eighteenth century, but also part of a thermal complex of the north-western Insula and a luxurious residential building in the Insula I are exposed. None of these sites has been fully brought to light, as the structures mostly develop under lands that have not been expropriated.

Decumanus Maximus of Herculaneum

A system of hydraulic pumps, in fact, must permanently control the water table emerging as a result of the sinking of the ancient coastline following the eruption of 79 AD and its related phenomena. The reopening of the Decumanus Maximus – the main street of ancient Herculaneum – marks the final handover of the Roman roads to visitors and concludes an important chapter regarding the works that involved the shops along the northern escarpment and some of the most interesting Roman residences of the archaeological site, including the House of the Double Portal, now finally accessible in all its splendor with its exceptional entrance, the columned portico and the still intact wooden elements, while important restoration interventions are underway in the famous House of the Bicentennial. Further extraordinary maintenance works on infrastructural systems and conservative restorations to the buildings of the ancient city are also ongoing, as well as archaeological research activities within the framework of the interinstitutional Herculaneum Conservation Project, carried out thanks to co-funding from the Packard Humanities Institute, in collaboration with the British School at Rome and other Italian and foreign universities.

How to buy tickets for the Herculaneum Excavations

Besides on-site, where it is possible to purchase entrance tickets to the Herculaneum excavations with credit card (Visa and MasterCard circuits) and Bancomat.

If you want to skip the line and visit the Herculaneum excavations with an archaeological guide, we suggest purchasing the ticket online.

Alternatively, it is possible to buy tickets online by connecting to the website and choose whether to receive the tickets at home, print them and present them directly at the entrance turnstiles, or pick them up at a dedicated point in Herculaneum and Pompeii Porta Marina.

Rules for visiting the Herculaneum excavations

• It is not allowed to stand on the edges of the excavations or climb on the walls
• Photographic and video recordings are allowed only for private use. For commercial filming and with tripods, you must contact the offices of the Herculaneum Archaeological Park
• Bulky items such as backpacks, umbrellas, bags, etc., must be deposited in the cloakroom
• Smoking is not allowed
• Animals are not allowed
• You must behave respectfully: no shouting, no graffiti on the walls, and dispose of waste in the appropriate containers
• The tourist guide service must be conducted by qualified personnel
• It is recommended to wear comfortable clothing and low-heeled shoes

Ercolano Excavations Ticket Prices

If you want to skip the line and visit the Ercolano excavations with an archaeological guide, we suggest purchasing the ticket online.

• Full price € 11.00
• Reduced € 5.50
• Free on the first Sunday of each month, under 18.

Herculaneum Excavation Hours

From April 1st to October 31st

• 08:30 – 19:30 (last entry at 18:00)

From November 1st to March 31st

• 08:30 – 17:00 (last entry at 15:30) – from November 1st to March 31st

The archaeological park of Herculaneum is closed on December 25th and January 1st.