Our journey takes us along the coast road through Castellammare di Stabia and out along the motorway to Herculaneum was destroyed along with Pompei in 79 AD, and was rediscovered in 1709. It was a residential town without Pompei's commercial importance, surrounded by the villas of wealthy Romans. When the catastrophe of 79 AD occurred, Herculaneum was buried by a torrent of mud that hardened into a soft tufa that preserved many of the wooden parts of houses and household objects which can be seen today. A large portion of old Herculaneum is still buried under the modern town and even today excavations are going on to discover what treasures lie buried under the rock.