«Herculaneum and Pompeii - the history of these two cities has given them the role of a mirror, which has reached us almost intact, of life in the Roman Empire - and stili today, these cities are two of the most extraordinary sites travellers on the traditional voyage d'Italie may view. During the period between the second half of the eighteenth century and the late nineteenth century these two cities, which had resurfaced intact from the ashes and lava of Vesuvius under which they were buried, exerted an extraor-dinary attraction. During those years, these cities became the source of a rive-ting web of myth and reality and thus one of the most coveted destinations during trips to Naples for grand tourists, and at times, perhaps, the only reason for their arrivai in the Bourbon Kingdom. The once celebrated Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields), which had been the primary focus of interest until the mid-teenth century, were completely left by the wayside.»