Pompeii Travel Forum

and what is the easiest way to get to both, on public transport? thanks!

It depends 100% on where you are starting and ending your day. Naples? Rome? Mars? (OK, small joke, but there is a Campo Marzo - Field of Mars - in Rome...sort of).

I haven't checked out buses, but the train from Pompei through Naples up to Cassino will take about 3 hours (trenitalia.com doesn't report a more direct route). If you are coming from Rome, you have 2.5+ hours to get to Naples/Pompeii, 3 hours to see Pompeii (and that's rushing), 3 hours to get to Cassino, 30 minutes or whatever to find and take a bus up to Montecassiono (I'm guessing here), a couple of hours to see anything in Montecassino, and at least 1.5 hours to get back to Rome...hmmmn, that's at least 12.5 hours...sort of a long day - oh, and I didn't allow for any meals or waiting for the next train or bus...

So, where are you starting and ending your day?

Bill

thank you for the reply:

Rome, and Rome.

sounds like a non-starter.

I wonder if I should do Pompei on my next trip? when I do the south?

Bill, as always, is right. Seems you are very interested in places of big battles, isn't it?
Such an interesting matter! I'm reading a book about the main battles of Rome history right now.... and confess i found deeply touching the visit to the remains (and little museum) of the little village of Canne, in Puglia region. There is nothing but land and plans, at your feet, but if you remember what happened there 2222 years ago (well, it will be next August, 2nd).... brrrr!
Ave atque vale!
Francesco

Cannae was 2222 years ago? Gee, and it just seemed like yesterday ;-) (hint, the battle Cannae that Francesco is talking about was one of the worst defeats that Rome ever suffered...50,000(?) men lost in one day...yet amazingly the Romans won the war.

Hmmmn, dear poster, you say "maybe I should see Pompeii another time" as if your primary visit was to Montecassino, not Pompeii. Is that right? I figured the train scheduled based on Pompeii being the primary target. I am not sure it would make a lot of difference, but maybe it would. It would certainly make a difference on when you go (time of year). This would have to do with having daylight for Pompeii. Hmmmn, now that I think about it, I wonder if they are doing Pompeii by night again this year.

Well, look at the official website for Pompeii and Herculaneum at http://www2.pompeiisites.org/ for more info (like hours and the night visits), and look at www.trenitalia.com for train schedules. Also note that the usual train that people take to Pompeii is the Circumvesuviana, which is not a trenitalia train (Trenitalia is the brand name for the national railways), but which is more convenient for going to the excavations at Pompeii. However, the trenitalia station is only about a 15 minute walk through modern Pompeii from the excavavtions, and you would have to get back on to the trenitalia system to go to/from Rome and Cassino (or most other places) anyway...

Bill

Ciao, Bill!
Just to continue out of the poster topic:
>>Cannae was 2222 years ago? Gee, and it just seemed like yesterday ;-) (hint, the battle Cannae that Francesco is talking about was one of the worst defeats that Rome ever suffered...50,000(?) men lost in one day...yet amazingly the Romans won the war.

Yes, 50,000 and maybe more: the result of the sillyness of having two commanders (one ruling odd days, one even days...) while facing one of gretest war geniuses of history, Hannibal (like Alexander the Great, Caesar and Napoleon). And yet winning the war (we are talking of the second Punic war, of course: Cannae -with the latin spelling- was on Aug 2nd, 216BC): but that would imply a long (and very interesting) discussion about the moral strenght of the Roman Republic.

Returning for a while to the poster's trip yes, Cassino has nothing to show if related to the richness of Pompei but, having seen the other post about Redipuglia (a place i won't bet that more tham 1,000 Us cityzen have ever heard), i figured somehow that she might be intereste il places of (modern) battles. Or am I wrong?
Ciao
Francesco

wow, thanks to both of you!

I really do want to go to Pompeii, it just sounded farther from Rome than I thought. I guess I cannot do both in one trip. I only have three days in Rome and want to spend as much time there as I can (second trip). maybe I should concentrate entirely on Rome this trip, even. and see Pompeii when I visit the south... (next trip).

I am very interested in the wars of the 20th century, yes! but your info on past wars is fascinating. if you see my Normandy pages you will see my interests...

The funny thing about Naples, Beth, is that it is accessible by fast train from Rome, so it's probably faster to get to Naples than to Cassino from Rome, even though Naples is farther away.

The question about doing Pompeii in a daytrip from Rome comes up all the time. You might search the Rome forum for "Pompeii" and see what you get (assuming that Search is working this morning).

My feeling is that you can do it in a day...but it's a long day: get up before dawn, get down to the train station (Termini) to take an early train to Naples, in Naples change stations to the Circumvesuviana station (downstairs from the Trenitalia station that you arrived in? - I forget, it's been a very long time since I did this), take the next Circumvesuviana out to "Pompeii Scavi" (or something like that), do Pompeii for several hours (you need to really wander around by yourself on some of the streets that still have walls on both sides to get a real feel for the place), take the Circumvesuviana back to Naples, change stations (walk upstairs?), and take the fast train back to Rome. This is easily an 8-10 hour day by itself...oh, did you have lunch in there? ;-)

Well, another alternative is to do the above, but take the Trenitalia train to Pompeii instead of the Circumvesuviana. When you get off at Pompeii, you'll have to walk through town to the excavations (different train station), but it's only about a 15 minute walk. On the way back, after you've seen the ruins, you can stop in Pompeii for a bite to eat before getting back on the Trenitalia train back to Naples...I think you'd rather eat in Pompeii than in the neighborhood around the train station in Naples.

I think you said that you had only three days in Rome...yes, maybe you are better off just doing Rome, then, as there is a world to see there...

Francesco...Hannibal ad portas!!! ;-)

Bill

Hannibal ad portas! Hannibal, ille Poenus detestatus omnibus Romanis, ad portas nostrae urbis est. Dum loquimur Hannibal est sub ipsis Romanis moenibus! Terror maximus totam urbem captat!

That terror explains how Marcus Portius Cato could not help finishing every speech in the Senate with the famous: Carthago delenda est!

Ok, sorry Beth, but Bill and I enjoy a little latin erudition show, every now and then.
Forgive us!
Ciao
Francesco

hey, knock yourself out, I guess I better get a dictionary!

Hannibal ad portas! Hannibal, ille Poenus detestatus omnibus Romanis, ad portas nostrae urbis est. Dum loquimur Hannibal est sub ipsis Romanis moenibus! Terror maximus totam urbem captat!

Hannibal's at the gates! Hannibal, that Phoenician (well, Carthaginian - same people) detested by all Romans, is at the gates of our city (Rome, in this case). While we speak, Hannibal is under our very own Roman walls! Total terror seizes our city!

Look, Mom, no dictionary!!! ;-) (I hope it's right)

Sounds like a trailer for a grade B sci-fi movie, doesn't it? ;-)

For generations afterwards, Roman mothers would get their children to behave by telling them "Hannibal ad portas!" (The boogeyman is right outside, so behave, you little monsters!!!)

OK, Beth, you have been patient enough...any other more MODERN things you want to talk about...?

Bill

Great translation Bill...... And, once more, forgive me, Beth! It's all my fault, and Bill was tempted only by my bad company!
I will pay for my sins discussing every WWII battle you choose!
What about a Patton vs Hannibal, in terms of strategic vision of a battlefield?
Or maybe we can discuss Risotto vs Pasta as main "primo" dish?
Or white vs red wines with a selection of cheeses?
;-)
Francesco