One of Pompeii's most famous
houses is to reopen 40 years after it was seriously damaged in
an earthquake, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said Tuesday.
The House of the Lovers is one of the jewels of the ancient
Roman city buried by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
It is the only 'domus' whose second floor was almost
completely preserved after the eruption.
"It is a story of rebirth and redemption, a model for all of
Europe in the management of EU funds," said the minister on the
completion of a major part of the EU-funded Great Pompeii
Project.
During this part of the project, three domuses have been
restored.
Franceschini will be in the ancient city later Tuesday to
illustrate how the House of the Lovers was re-stabilised and
repaired after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake that rocked Naples
and the surrounding area.
The house owes its name to a Latin inscription on the right
of the entrance: 'Amantes, ut apes, vita(m) mellita(m) exigunt.
Velle.'
"Lovers like bees pass a sweet life like honey. I wish it was
so."
It has three male names beside it, and this has been taken to
mean that the house was a brothel.
The structure dates back to the 1st century B.C according to
the style of the exterior, the decorations belong to a period
after 62 BC and paintings represent life and landscapes, with
mollusks and fish in idyllic landscapes.
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