If you’ve visited Pompeii recently, you’ve likely experienced that deflating moment when the excitement of entering the site is quickly replaced by the crush of hundreds of visitors bottlenecked along the narrow path leading into the ancient Roman town. Rest assured, your next Pompeii visit will hopefully be a lot better. Pompei Sites, the official name of the archaeological site as well as the entity that manages it, has introduced a cap on visitors aimed at safeguarding one of Italy’s most treasured archaeological parks.
Preserved under volcanic ash by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E. and rediscovered in the late 16th century, Pompeii has been on the wish list of travelers eager to experience a slice of ancient Roman life since the times of the Grand Tour (an upper-class European journey during the 17th to early 19th century), and with every year, the number of visitors to the site increases. In fact, 2024 is already set to surpass 2023’s record-breaking nearly 4 million visitors, according to data provided by Pompei Sites. On peak days (usually from April through October), ticket purchases have swelled to 36,000, creating logistical and preservation concerns.
The goal of the new measure, which went into effect on November 15, is to curb overcrowding and minimize damage to the ancient city, which has faced growing challenges from surging visitor numbers and the occasional misconduct of tourists. Under the new rules, Pompeii Sites limits daily ticket sales to 20,000, and each ticket must be personalized with each visitor’s full name and is tied to a designated time slot for entry. It’s important to underline that officials noted that it’s rare for regular attendance to reach 20,000 daily visitors—although it does happen. Tickets for Pompeii can be purchased through the website Ticket One.
“This is not a measure against growth. On the contrary, we are working for a more sustainable and long-lasting form of growth, which should also benefit the surrounding territory. The tourism industry has been changing in recent years, and the key to success will be quality, not quantity,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Pompei Sites director, in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
A second and equally as important concern of Pompeii sites is tourist behavior. Over the years, Pompeii and other sites across Italy have experienced increasingly aggressive vandalism, from the casual and careless discarding of trash to the more aggressive defacement of ancient sites. For example, in August 2024, a British tourist carved his and his family’s initials into the walls of one of Pompei’s more than 2,000-year-old houses. The visitor cap is part of strategy to promote sustainable tourism while ensuring easier crowd management for park staff and security.
Park officials are also encouraging travelers to explore other nearby archaeological sites tied to Pompeii like the other “Vesuvian sites” Oplontis and Stabiae. (Stabiae is a city and Oplontis is a villa; both were also preserved and covered by ash from a pyroclastic flow.) The Pompeii park offers Artebus, free shuttle buses that bring visitors from Pompeii to these ancient sites, offering tourists a deeper dive into the eruption and its effects on the entire area.
“In Pompeii, visiting the ancient city also means exploring the farms, villas, necropolises, villages, and commercial hubs of the surrounding ancient territory, such as Torre Annunziata, Boscoreale, Castellammare di Stabia, Scafati, Terzigno, Poggiomarino, and so on,” commented Zuchtriegel.
Known as the Grande Pompei (the greater Pompeii experience) archaeological park, visitors can explore the magnificent Roman villas of Oplontis and Stabiae, restored landmarks, such as the Villa of the Mysteries (named for its wall paintings depicting scenes of Dionysiac initiations) illuminated with solar-powered tiles, and farm of Villa Regina and its adjacent Boscoreale’s Antiquarium, featuring the ceremonial chariot from Civita Giuliana—all once covered up by Vesuvius’s fateful eruption. It’s an incredible opportunity on a three-day/26-euro combined entry ticket because these sites are yet to be discovered by the masses of tourism.
