Descrizione di Pompei

Imprisoned in 1849 for organising a Carbonari cell among the workers at Pompeii, numismatist and archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli (1823-96) was eventually appointed Director of Excavations, as well as Professor of Archaeology at Naples, in 1860.

He introduced systematic excavation to the site and meticulous record-keeping, including the creation of a general map and a 1:100 model, as well as the use of plaster casts to capture the forms of ancient bodies.

Published in 1875, as Fiorelli left Naples to take up the position of Director General of Italian Antiquities and Fine Arts, this guide, in Italian, gives a description of Pompeii ordered by region, insula, and building - a system devised by Fiorelli and still in use today.

As such, the work illuminates the development of modern archaeological methods and the history of this remarkable site.