Pompeii, start of the year with record influxes: 'Improve connections with Naples and Sorrento'

A record-breaking start for 2023, which saw the number of visitors to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii increase even beyond pre-pandemic levels.

Plus 127% compared to 2022 (takings +162%), an increase of 6% on 2019 (takings compared to 2019, +19%), also thanks to the special openings wanted by Minister Sangiuliano such as the one on January 1st and the free Sundays (the next Sunday with free admission for all museums and parks of the Ministry of Culture is March 5th).

The influxes to other sites belonging to the Park are also increasing, in particular to Torre Annunziata, where the Villa of Poppea, enhanced with a new display of statues and finds from the complex also known as “Villa A”, recorded an increase of 103,26% (157% in the month of February alone) compared to 2022; but also in the sites of Stabiae an increase of + 50% was recorded in the first months of the year compared to the previous one.

"This is not a simple 'return' to pre-Covid. Rather, we are seeing completely new dynamics, with large groups of audiences struggling to return, particularly from the Far East, and others that are growing, including Italians, Europeans and North Americans. – comments the director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel – It is an award for the continuous work of conservation, maintenance, accessibility and enhancement, carried out by an exceptional team of professionals and collaborators. The percentage of houses and neighborhoods accessible to the public today in Pompeii is the highest in decades and with the Board of Directors we have decided to invest further in reception, education and fruition services to further expand the cultural offering.”

The efforts also concern greater cohesion between the various sites of the Park, with a view to a “Great Pompeii”, a set of archaeological areas and exhibition venues that must be increasingly connected, both physically and culturally. For some months, a shuttle service has been active, managed together with EAV and the Campania Region through Scabec, which connects Pompeii and the sites of Boscoreale, Oplontis and Stabia.

“We have decided to make this service free for all our visitors,” announces the director. "But we need to think in a broader perspective. In this regard, I wrote a letter to the President of the Region, Vincenzo De Luca, to ask for a discussion on how we can collaborate to improve connections, for example with the Circumvesuviana between Pompeii, Naples and Sorrento, to live up to the great interest that our cultural heritage arouses throughout the world."

General Di Blasio, General Director of the Great Pompeii Project, while expressing satisfaction for the positive impact of these results on the entire territory, also underlines the work carried out by the Great Pompeii Unit for the further development and implementation of the interventions of the Strategic Plan for the redevelopment of the area of ​​interest of the UNESCO serial site Pompeii, Oplontis, Herculaneum: "The significant resources recently made available by the CIS Vesuvius-Pompei-Naples also go in the direction of improving the quality of services, for example with the financing of a first lot of the reconversion of the Torre Annunziata, Castellammare, Gragnano railway, an important step to equip ourselves with a light and sustainable connection and promote the regeneration of the waterfront. The objective of the Strategic Plan, which is inspired by the logic of the Great Pompeii Project, is to ensure that the entire district can benefit from the main cultural attractions, first of all the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, whose results go precisely in this direction since they are correlated with a greater permanence of visitors".