IF YOU GO . . .

Dress

Three hours in the sun in the ruins in summer can fry you to a cinder. You need a large water bottle. Fill it in the fountains on site, as the ancients did. Hat and sunblock are essential. Near the Forum is a restaurant with bathrooms.

How to hire a guide

Tours depart 8:30 a.m. and early afternoon from the main entrance at Porta Marina and Piazza Esedra near the tourist guide office and last 2 hours. Guides must be licensed. Ask to see the badge. The official cost of a tour is 120 euros (about $163) for a party of 8 to 10.

Or reserve in advance with Gaetano Manfredi, a private guide, atwww.gaetanoguide@hotmail.it. His English is wonderful. He also guides visitors around the Amalfi Coast and meets them in Rome to drive them to Pompeii. Seewww.pompeiitourguide.com.

Naples National Archaelogical Museum’s Secret Chamber

The king of Naples, who paid for the excavation of Pompeii in the 18th century, hid its erotica under lock and key. Most is tame by today’s standards — various human couplings and nymphs and satyrs having sex, though the statue from Herculaneum of Pan with a she-goat might shock. The hanging lamps in the shape of phalluses with dangling bells are hilarious. In 2000, the Secret Chamber was opened to the public. Children under 11 are not admitted.

Gwen Kinkead