The Buried City

Unearthing the Real Pompeii

De: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Jamie Bulloch - translator

Narrado por: Nick Biadon

This is an auto-narrated audiobook version of this book.

The director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park offers a vivid view of daily life in the lost city, shares the latest discoveries, and reflects on preserving heritage.

In The Buried City, Gabriel Zuchtriegel takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of Pompeii and reveals new archaeological finds that are being unearthed at the site’s biggest dig in a generation. As director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Zuchtriegel presents a uniquely intimate perspective on this city that was tragically destroyed and frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Among the ruins, we find unmade beds, dishes left drying, and bodies of victims encased in ash, but Zuchtriegel shows that we’ve only begun to understand this fascinating place, as a third of the site remains unexcavated.

Zuchtriegel leads us into the heart of the city, reconstructing Pompeii as it would have been, showing us who lived there, what mattered to them, and what happened in their final hours. The Buried City reveals the latest discoveries unearthed at Pompeii—including a banquet hall with murals of Greek gods, a fresco of what appears to be a pizza, and the remains of individuals crushed by debris—all buried for almost two thousand years. Zuchtriegel offers a vivid portrait of this World Heritage site as a vibrant and diverse city, connecting us to a past that is much closer than we think and inviting us to reflect on our role as keepers of the site and its history.

©2025 Gabriel Zuchtriegel (P)2025 University of Chicago Press

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A brilliant book! A learned guide to life in Pompeii both in the Roman past and the twenty-first century, deftly weaving the ancient with the modern, the personal with the historical. The end result is a fascinating, affable, and constantly illuminating exploration of Pompeii as an idea and as an archaeological site but also as a home for thousands of Roman people from all walks of life.”

— Emma Southon, author of "A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"

"This is not just the best book on Pompeii I’ve ever read—it’s the best book on the glorious realities of archaeology itself. Zuchtriegel will surely inspire a whole new generation in the field with his blend of knowledge, experience and boundless passion. For this reader . . . well, it has left me panting to revisit Pompeii with the new, excited eyes that this magnificent book has given me.”

— Stephen Fry, actor, producer, and author of "Troy"

“Zuchtriegel has brought us an experimental, personal, moving, engaging account of Pompeii. He courageously shows that archaeology is not a dry science, but rather one driven by the personal experience and passions of the archeologist. This book reveals the excitement of new excavations at Pompeii while serving as a deeply personal testament to Zuchtriegel’s background and upbringing, his love of music, his path to becoming an archaeologist.”

— Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, author of "Herculaneum: Past and Future"

“The Buried City tells the story of Zuchtriegel’s memorable personal journey to taking charge at Pompeii, along the way revealing how he’s righting the wrongs of his predecessors and presiding over the new and remarkable discoveries at this greatest of archaeological sites.”

— Guy de la Bédoyère, author of "Populus"

“A thoughtful, revelatory and above all deeply human account of life—and death—by the director of the most awe-inspiring archaeological site on the planet. Zuchtriegel describes the realities of his profession with such honesty and verve.”

— Daisy Dunn, author of "In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny"