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Home > Travel Italy > Italy Destinations > Ercolano
Ercolano
Italy, officially the Italian Republic or Repubblica Italiana, is a Southern European country comprising of the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is shaped like a boot and for this reason Italians commonly call it lo Stivale, the boot or, due to its prevalent peninsular geographical nature, la Penisola, the Peninsula.
Ercolano is a town and commune in the province of Naples, Campania, Italy. Ercolano, which was named Herculaneum until 79 AD, Anno Domini was most likely founded by the Oscan, an Italic tribe of the 8th century BC, Before Crist and later became part of both the Etruscan and Samnite dominions. Under control of the Romans, the city was a renowned seaside resort where some of the richest Roman citizens passed their summer vacations.
After the 79 AD, Anno Domini eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the town was abandoned and remained largely uninhabited for about 1000 years. Unlike neighboring Pompeii, the citizens of Herculaneum were suffocated to death by poisonous fumes rather than buried under heavy ash. The town was partially buried under hot mud and remained so for those 1000 years. As of December 31, 2004 it had the total population of 55, 637 and area of 19 square kilometers.
Records of rehabitation in the area begin to appear around the year 1000, when the sanctuary called Castel di Resina, one of the most visited in the Campania region, was recorded to have been located on a hill in that area. The area was largely repopulated over the next 500 years, creating the small town of Resina, named after the old sanctuary, with homes and neighborhoods being built above the uncovered ancient ruins of Herculaneum. In 1709, the old ruins from around the time of the 79 AD eruption were uncovered along with nearby Pompeii. Since then, Herculeaneum has been entirely uncovered with all of its ancient riches and petrified inhabitants extracted.
Over time, the town of Resina became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, up until the Italian Unification of 1861 and eventually became part of the metropolitan area of the city of Naples. In 1969, the town changed its name from Resina to Ercolano, the Italian modernization of the ancient name in honor of the old city. Ercolano is one of Italy’s most popular destinations and is well known for the quantity of cultural related attractions and monuments that the city has embraced.
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