If you are going to be in Pompeii [Campania] on Sunday and email the address at the end of this article before 4pm Italian time [3pm in the UK] today you may find yourself enjoying a snack prepared to a Roman recipe in the 2000-year old Thermopolium [snack bar] of Vetutius Placidus.
The Thermopolium has been closed to visitors for many years to protect it from damage and pollution but it will open for a little while on Sunday to celebrate its restoration and as part of Pompeii’s Spring Festival. 300 visitors chosen at random from those emailing the address below will be taken on a 45-minute tour of the Thermopolitan from 9 am.
The building gets its name because of election graffiti urging passing citizens to vote for Vetutius Placidus on its outer walls. Inside there is a stone bar counter with large holes which housed terracotta jars containing wine or food. Archaeologists found a bag of coins in one of these and concluded that the owner stashed it away in the hole before fleeing the city as Vesuvius erupted on 24th August, AD 79. The bar also has an area where coaches were placed for customers wishing to eat leisurely meals. This is decorated with a painting of “The Rape of Europa with Jupiter as a Bull”.
Adjoining the bar is Vetutius Placidus’s family home and you can see a lararium or household shrine here. On either side of the niche the gods of trade and wine, Mercury and Dionysus, are depicted.
Soon the Thermopolitan will be open to all visitors to ancient Pompeii but if you would like a chance to participate in Sunday’s tour please email
ufficiostampa@archeologicapompei.it
before 4pm Italian time today. We are sorry about the short notice but this event has only just come to our notice!
