New Ancients

Entering the historic sanctuary Pompeii promises another pleasant walk among the remnants of the architectural art, or simply the ruins. But escaping the commonplace museum crowd at the entrance and setting foot on the restored off-white bricks makes you connect to the universal memory machine and speculate about the essence of catastrophe in the timeless contest.
In shiny weather when the spotless sky unveils the full landscape of the infamous mountain Vesuvius. This immense ghostly nature construction follows the observer’s every step making it easier to recover the encyclopedic events in your imagination. As the extra fantasy boost serves the seismological report about the unceasing activity of the world’s most popular volcano. In other words, Vesuvius never sleeps.
The dexterous guides accompanying their camera-equipped tourists have long developed immunity to the spells of the antiquity. They routinely toss the fact balls as though preparing their clients for the erudition championship. But most of the time these adepts entertain numerous guests with the same stories about the phallus as a symbol of prosperity and the debauchery as a favorite Pompeii’s tradition. Built up with brothels, pubs and casinos this BC city surely attracted some bad vibes awaking the righteous Nemesis (or whomever those poor things believed in, beside the obscene sign). Actually, the gaps in knowledge of the natural history caused the tragedy. If the locals had figured out that a nearby hill could have turned into the firework factory they would be less nonchalant – drink less, run more. Whatever, their last horror poses were printed on the lava layers – this 19-th century innovation still makes one wonder what these vague figures - waht a child handicraft, really represent. Roberto Rossellini’s Viaggio in Italia masterfully depicts the dignified astonishment of Ingrid Bergman’s character when first introduced to the plaster corpses. Is there anything human about this scholar’s resurrection experiment?
Overall this tourist destination has a double personality. The undated architectural replicas make Pompeii nothing more then the family park with some historical background while the invisible spirit of the oblivion and the unsolved grief make Pompeii enigmatic and inspirational.
Leaving the old residential complex I notice a stranger with the eerily white face holding the unearthly expression of fear and pain totally dissonant with the prevailing tranquility.