My husband Chris and I have just returned from a vacation in Italy. During our cruise along the Almafi coast we visited some exciting historic sites. We relaxed and took the time to appreciate how historically significant our easy decorative mouldings really are.

Our trip began in Naples, which is a great historic Italian city.

The skyline at night was glorious

We went on to Almafi, down the coast, visiting the beaches at Positano

Positano Beaches

and taking a day trip to the historic ruins of Pompeii.

Ok, I can’t resist. A short history lesson. The city of Pompeii is truly one of the wonders of the world. In 200 BC it was a Roman holiday spot and bustling city of over 20,000. Then disaster struck.

 On Aug 24th 79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupted.  The city of Pompeii, 20,000 strong, had mostly been evacuated.

Amazingly it was a  massive layer of ash that enveloped the city killing over 2,000 inhabitants and burying the city totally. While the few that were not killed did go on to write about it in history the discovery and excavation of Pompeii did not begin until 1600 and continues to this day.

Today when you walk down the roads you see the rut made by the Roman Chariots on the cobbles.

Chariot Ruts

Amazing theaters and bath houses still show you what the city was like.

One of the most amazing things is that the design and embellishments are all the same as we use now.  There is nothing new here, or should I really say everything we know is very old.

This bath house has a wonderful Greek Key motifs in tile on the floor

Greek Key Floor Art

This private residence has rooms full of Egg and Dart moulding, Not to mention the original paint!

And the common area of this hot tub is full of cherub rosettes.

Cherub rosettes

The buildings and houses of Pompeii had it all.

Later this week I will continue our trip recap with our visit to Ischia.