The Archaeological Park of Herculaneum, located in southern Italy, in Campania, near Naples, is an Institute of the Ministry of Culture, which aims to protect and enhance the archaeological area of Herculaneum, including the Villa dei Papiri, the underground theatre and the Villa Sora in Torre del Greco.

Since 2001, Herculaneum has benefited from the continuous action of a public-private partnership with the Packard Humanities Institute, an American philanthropic foundation operating in Italy through the Packard Institute for Cultural Heritage, which contributes to the conservation and enhancement of the site through the Herculaneum Conservation Project (HCP) and collaboration with other partners.

Since 1997, the archaeological area of Herculaneum has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites as part of Site 829 ‘Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata’.

Ancient Herculaneum was situated on a plateau overlooking the Gulf of Naples with two streams bordering its east and west sides and Mount Vesuvius behind it. The city had an extension of about 20 hectares and an estimated population of about 4000 inhabitants. A devastating earthquake in 62 AD caused significant damage and then the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD buried the city forever.  Herculaneum was rediscovered in the 18th century, with excavations conducted at the behest of the King of Naples, Charles of Bourbon, through a network of wells and underground passages. In 1828 and until 1875, excavations were conducted ‘in the open’ and continued in 1927 with archaeologist Amedeo Maiuri, who led them until 1958.
Further investigations were carried out during the 20th century and in the early 2000s, bringing to light a large part of the city's waterfront and a small sector of the Villa dei Papiri. The city that can be admired today, extraordinarily well preserved thanks to the way it was buried after the eruption of the volcano, with its streets, public buildings, baths, shops, houses, frescoes, mosaic and marble floors, statues, and objects of everyday life, represents about one third of its entire extent. Even today, a large part of the ancient city lies below the modern city, which until 1969 was called Resina.

This video is one of the results of a multi-year community involvement project carried out by the Herculaneum Archaeological Park in collaboration with public and private organisations. 

The aim is to enhance the Unesco site and the city of Herculaneum through the story and the particular vision of a group of boys and girls living in the via Mare neighbourhood, a socio-economically fragile area characterised by a recent history of violence and crime. The neighbourhood is located close to the archaeological area, with houses overlooking the site, and in recent years has been the subject of major urban redevelopment works, carried out thanks to the Partnership between the Archaeological Park, the Municipality and the Packard Institute for Cultural Heritage. Some of the works as part of this redevelopment included the construction, by the Municipality of Herculaneum, of Piazza Carlo di Borbone and the passageway linking the main entrance to the excavations with the Via Mare neighbourhood, as well as the demolition of a boundary wall between the two areas that isolated the district and did not allow a view of the archaeological area.

The style chosen to make the video continues the work that the boys have started with the social enterprise Variabile K to tell their neighbourhood through social media thanks to their Instagram page ‘ovic_emar’. Hence a language close to social that traces the style of reels.

Through interviews and glimpses of everyday life, the video captures significant moments and intimate reflections, bearing witness to a sense of belonging and identity, the deep and living bond between the inhabitants and the Archaeological Park.

The young protagonists tell, in their own words, about some areas of the site and also some redeveloped areas of their neighbourhood, but above all the video reveals their particular relationship with this heritage, what it means to live right next to it and how much they consider it their home.