HERCULANEUM. «The Herculaneum site has been enormously redeveloped, it is becoming a jewel». This was stated by the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, at the reopening ceremony of the ancient city beach of Ercolano, the result of a recovery project promoted by the Archaeological Park, in a public-private partnership with the Packard Humanities Institute and with a Cis Vesuvio loan. «We are in one of the most important archaeological areas in the world together with Pompeii and Oplontis. We are working very hard and in the budget law we have allocated new resources for the excavations. Then there is the issue of the Torre Annunziata Spolettificio which will become a museum centre. This is a series of things that can become an opportunity for socio-economic development” underlines government representative Meloni. «Culture, in addition to being a food for the spirit, which improves the quality of life and makes citizens feel better, culture is also an opportunity for growth for our territories and therefore we work hard to make this happen» adds Sangiuliano. «Ortega Y Gasset, the great Spanish philosopher, said that you cannot project yourself into the future if you don’t plant your heels firmly on the ground first. I am a conservative and as Prezzolini explained, progressives are the people of tomorrow, the conservatives of the day after tomorrow because they innovate and modernize a society while safeguarding values.” The site that has reopened its doors to the public is of extraordinary historical interest because it is the place where, according to some research carried out by archaeologists, more than 300 men tried in vain to save themselves during the eruption of 79 AD, thanks to a real operation of civil protection directed by the admiral and illustrious Roman scholar Pliny the Elder.
«We are opening the ancient beach to the public, with the coastline having advanced by about 400 meters after the eruption of 79 AD, we are on the ancient sea four meters below the current sea level. The site, due to the rising water, had become a swamp and this caused great static problems for the conservation of the ancient structures and we intervened with a project managed by the Packard Foundation and CIS funds which allowed us to create a permit for accomplish this. The place has been returned to ancient levels, we have done great scientific research work on meals. We found the remains of traces of pyroclastic flows over the city and in 2021 we found what we dubbed “the last fugitive”, the skeleton of a man of about 40 years old who was fleeing towards the sea with a bag of precious objects” says the director of the archaeological park Francesco Sirano.
Jane Thompson, of the Packard Humanities Institute, «explains that we have been active here since 2001, it is the largest public-private partnership on archaeological heritage in Europe. We have brought the Herculaneum site to be a spearhead of the sector starting from a critical situation.”For his part, the mayor Ciro Buonaiuto underlines that «our city, thanks also to the archaeological park, is experiencing not only tourist but also socio-economic development and for this I thank the director Sirano and all those who work there».
