Three new rooms opened to the public at Pompeii this week. Here, Mary Beard, the broadcaster and classicist, explains why the site is so special and offer tips on making the most of a visit

Pompeii is unforgettable. It is the only place in the world where you can begin to understand, face to face, how the Romans of the first century AD lived: from the brothels and lavatories to the posh dining rooms and lavish bathing establishments (the modern spa, health club and gym rolled into one).

I have been studying the place for more than 35 years and the magic works every time. I slip down a deserted side street (and the site is big enough that there still are deserted side streets), and without having to use much imagination I have travelled back 2,000 years – walking along the high pavements, hopping across the road on the stepping stones, peering at the ruts made by generations of Roman carts, or at the election slogans painted on the walls by hopeful Roman candidates for office.

Not that Pompeii is a city "frozen in time". The eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed the town in AD 79 wasn't quite as devastating as it is sometimes cracked up to be. This wasn't an ordinary little town going about its everyday business as usual – when suddenly, with no warning at all, it was covered in debris from the volcano and preserved as if in aspic. Vesuvius had been rumbling for days, if not weeks.

Most of the population, perhaps more than 17,000 out of an original 20,000 or so, managed to escape – taking their prized possessions with them. If Pompeian houses today look under-furnished, that's partly because the owners had loaded their best furniture on a cart and scarpered.

They weren't all so lucky. The old, the ill and the hopelessly optimistic (or stupid) seem to have sat it out – and died. The skeletons of one family have been found, crouched together in a back room of a large house. One of the group was in her late teens and almost nine months pregnant. That presumably explains why they stayed put. Others may simply have decided to get on with their jobs and ignore the warnings.

Most of the population, perhaps more than 17,000 out of an original 20,000 or so, managed to escape Credit: getty

One team of painters was working on some expensive new wall decoration in another large property until the very last minute. They certainly left in a hurry, knocking over their ladder and bucket of cement in the process – to be found by archaeologists almost two millennia later. They may have been very lucky in their escape and got away.

More likely they have ended up as some of the dead "bodies" you can still see on the site, crouching in corners, head in hands, or clinging to each other as the debris fell – the shape of their clothing, even their facial expressions as they died, preserved.

One of the "bodies" Credit: getty

These are now some of the biggest attractions of the ancient town: vivid, if ghoulish, reminders of the real people who lost their lives in the disastrous eruption. They are not literally "bodies" at all, of course. One ingenious 19th-century excavator had the bright idea of pouring plaster of Paris into the cavities left in the lava around skeletons, where flesh and clothing had decomposed – and, hey presto, the shape of a living human being was miraculously recovered.

Restoration work at Pompeii Credit: AFP or licensors/ALEXANDRIA SAGE

Modern science has developed these techniques. We have recently discovered that you can pour plaster not only into the cavities left by corpses but into those left by the roots of plants as they decomposed under the volcanic debris. And so whole gardens have been reconstructed with their flowers, fruit trees and cuttings in pots. Microscopic analysis can tell you even more – about the pollen flying around in the air in AD 79 or occasionally, when you find a cesspit, about what went through the digestive tracts of the ancient inhabitants of the town.

Eggs, we have learnt, were among the staples of the Pompeian diet – and there were some nasty intestinal parasites around.

But the pleasure of Pompeii is that you don't actually need a microscope to make discoveries. You just need your eyes open. The fittings of lost doors and windows are there for all to see if they look hard enough. So too are the stairways in the private houses that led to upper storeys destroyed in the eruption (despite first appearances, the Pompeians did not live in bungalows – but what went on upstairs is hard to say).

One of the most curious new discoveries has come from a closer look at those cart ruts that scar the Pompeian streets.

Generations of visitors have wondered how two ancient carts could possibly have passed each other in the narrow streets of the town. The answer now seems to be that they didn't. Carefully examining the scrapes of cartwheels in the roadway and against the pavements, one team of archaeologists has worked out the direction of the traffic flow and claims to be able to plot the one-way street system operating in ancient Pompeii.

How to make the most of your visit

A visit to Pompeii hardly ever lets you down. But to have a really successful time there are two essentials apart from wide-open eyes: sensible shoes (the bumpy roads and pavements are hard on the ankles) and a water bottle (a small one is fine: there are lots of ancient street fountains where you can refill).

It is also a good idea to do a bit of planning. If you put yourself at the mercy of one of the guides who tout for business at the entrance, you will miss out on the fun of wandering as you please. It's far better to work out an agenda in advance and find your way around with a map.

There are two essentials apart from wide-open eyes: sensible shoes and a water bottle Credit: GETTY

There are two basic rules here. First, don't get too interested too early. Most people arrive by the little Circumvesuviana railway from Naples or Sorrento, and go in by the main entrance at the Porta Marina (the sea gate). From here you quickly come to the Forum, or the main piazza of the ancient town.

It's impressive enough in its way, and many new visitors spend ages there trying to work out what every building was. Don't. There are even more impressive things to come – brilliantly preserved bath buildings, a working-condition brothel and an amphitheatre, for example.

Don't spend too long in the Forum Credit: getty

Second, take any opportunity offered. A lot of the best private houses of the town are locked for much of the time. But custodians do open them occasionally. If you spot an open door – go through it. All kinds of surprises might lie inside: little mosaic fountains, reconstructed gardens, the carefully crafted marble couches on which upmarket Romans dined.

Seven essential sights

1. The House of the Tragic Poet (it has nothing actually to do with a tragic poet, but most houses got nicknames in the 19th century).

This is among the best-preserved private houses and features the famous "Beware of the Dog" mosaic at its entrance – and it was the one that Edward Bulwer-Lytton chose as the home of his hero Glaucus, in his engaging 1830s romp The Last Days of Pompeii.

2. The Temple of Isis

Bulwer-Lytton's villain in The Last Days was a priest of the Egyptian goddess Isis, and her temple is one of the most vividly preserved in the whole town. It was visited by the young Mozart in 1769, and gave him ideas for The Magic Flute.

An erotic drawing in the brothel Credit: getty

3. The brothel

This is now the most-visited building on the site (more visited than in antiquity, no doubt) – and you may well have to queue to get in. It consists of five poky cubicles, with some explicit erotic paintings and a lot of graffiti from satisfied customers.

4. The Stabian Baths

These give you the best idea of what Roman bathing was like. There are richly decorated vaulted rooms for a good steam (the men's section considerably richer than the women's) – plus a swimming pool and exercise yard.

The Stabian Baths Credit: getty

5. The Villa of the Mysteries

Just outside the city walls, this villa-cum-farm includes the most famous Pompeian wall-painting. A mysterious scene wrapping around the four walls of a large reception room, featuring flagellation, phalluses, a bride (?) and the god Dionysus.

A scene in The Villa of the Mysteries Credit: getty

6. The amphitheatre

One for the energetic (it's about as far from the entrance as it could possibly be), but worth the effort; 150 years older than the Colosseum, it's the earliest amphitheatre to survive anywhere in the world.

The earliest amphitheatre to survive anywhere in the world Credit: getty

7. The House of Lovers

Reopened to the public in February 2020 after a 40-year closure. It gets its name from an entrance inscription saying "lovers, like bees, live a life as sweet as honey" and is exceptional both for the state of its frescoes and for its almost intact second floor.

The House of Lovers Credit: AFP or licensors/HANDOUT

How to do it

Getting there

By train:

Porta Marina, Piazza Esedra: Circumvesuviana Napoli-Sorrento (stop Pompei Villa dei Misteri)

Piazza Anfiteatro: Circumvesuviana Napoli-Poggiomarino (stop Pompei Santuario)

Train FS Napoli-Salerno (stop Pompei)

By bus:

SITA from Napoli and Salerno

BUSITALIA Campania n. 4 from Salerno

BUSITALIA Campania n. 50 express coach from Salerno (by motorway)

By car:

Motorway A3 Napoli-Salerno (exit Pompeii ovest)

Getting in

Adult tickets cost €16. The site opens at 830am on Saturdays and Sundays, or 9am during the week. Last entrance 6pm Apr-Oct, 330pm Nov-Mar. See pompeiisites.org for more information.