Buried under a blanket of ash and lapilli during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, today Pompeii continues to be a mysterious place that hides secrets, masterpieces and stories that range between myth, Eros and portraits of life, all still to be explored. The documentary reveals the true nature of a city that has influenced culture and art, from Neoclassicism to Contemporary art, through the most fascinating mythological stories of the classical world and the images and words of great writers and artists who have lived, visited and imagined the great city of Pompeii: from Pliny the Younger to Picasso, from Emily Dickinson to Jean Cocteau.
Their words and images will be brought back to life by Isabella Rossellini who accompanies us on this journey, together with experts, historians, anthropologists and archaeologists, who will also reveal new discoveries, including frescoes and domus, in a city that continues to amaze and tell new stories. An immersion into villas, shops, taverns, lupercals, warehouses and spas, as well as the amphitheatre, where during the imperial age bloody battles between gladiators were held.
The film explores the most fascinating mythological representations of Eros and mystery, and the most compelling stories of the domus and its inhabitants, who would unwittingly enter the mythical world after the eruption of Vesuvius. A journey through mythology, a return to original concepts, to the heart of human beings, back to their ideals, their dreams, and their relationship with immortality. The original sound track by Remo Anzovino: a reverberation of notes, sounds and music, travelling between past and present.