Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For more information, contact the town's tourist office at
Porta Marina
(
081 536 32 93;
www.pompeiturismo.it
;
Piazza Porta Marina Inferiore 12;
8am-3.45pm Mon-Sat)
or in
central
Pompeii
(
081 850 72 55; Via Sacra 1;
8am-3.30pm Mon-Fri, 8.30am-2pm Sat, closed Sun all
year)
.
The Forum
Continuing northeast along Via Marina you'll hit the grassy
foro
(forum). Flanked by
limestone columns, this was the ancient city's main piazza and the buildings surrounding
it are testament to its role as the city's hub of civic, commercial, political and religious
activity.
At its southwestern end sit the remains of the
basilica
, the 2nd century BC seat of the
city's law courts and exchange. Their semicircular apses would later influence the design
of early Christian churches. Opposite the basilica, the
Tempio di Apollo
(Temple of
Apollo) is the oldest and most important of Pompeii's religious buildings. Most of what
you see today, including the striking columned portico, dates to the 2nd century BC, al-
though fragments remain of an earlier version dating to the 6th century BC.
At the forum's northern end is the
Tempio di Giove
(Temple of Jupiter), which has one
of two flanking triumphal arches remaining, and the
Granai del Foro
(Forum Granary),
now used to store hundreds of amphorae and a number of body casts that were made in
the late 19th century by pouring plaster into the hollows left by disintegrated bodies. The
macellum
nearby was once the city's main meat and fish market.
Lupanare
From the market head northeast along Via degli Augustali to Vicolo del Lupanare.
Halfway down this narrow alley is the Lupanare, the city's only dedicated brothel. A tiny
two-storey building with five rooms on each floor, its collection of raunchy frescoes was a
menu of sorts for its randy clientele.
Teatro Grande
Heading back south, Vicolo del Lupanare becomes Via dei Teatri. At the end you'll find
the verdant Foro Triangolare, which would originally have overlooked the sea and the
River Sarno. The main attraction here was, and still is, the 2nd century BC Teatro Grande,
a 5000-seat theatre carved into the lava mass on which Pompeii was originally built. Be-
