Pompeii tour with archaeologist

My husband and I booked a private day with Pina Esposito during our honeymoon, and it ended up being one of the absolute highlights of our entire trip. If you are considering hiring Pina for Pompeii, DO IT!! It is well-worth the money. She is incredibly knowledgeable, warm, engaging, and has an amazing ability to make the history of Pompeii truly come to life. Everything was seamless from the beginning. Pina was extremely communicative over email and WhatsApp while we planned the day, and she arranged for one of her preferred drivers to pick us up directly from our hotel in Ravello around 8:30am. Our driver was wonderful, and having all of the transportation taken care of made the entire day so easy. Pina was also incredibly accommodating throughout the day—even helping us find an ATM and somewhere to get sunscreen! But the real highlight was, of course, Pina herself and our time with her at Pompeii. Her depth of knowledge is unbelievable. She is an archaeologist with two PhDs and has been professionally involved with Pompeii, but what makes her so special is her ability to take that enormous amount of knowledge and share it in a way that is fascinating, approachable, and never overwhelming. She didn't just tell us facts—she helped us understand what we were looking at and imagine the people who actually lived there. I genuinely felt like my jaw was dropped for most of the tour! She answered every single question we had and taught us SO much about the history, art, architecture, culture, and everyday lives of the people of Pompeii. She also shared stories from her own connection to the area, including taking us to a wonderful cameo workshop that she remembered visiting with her uncle when she was growing up. Those personal touches made the day feel so much more special than a standard tour. My husband was an art history minor in college AND had already visited Pompeii before, and even he felt like he was seeing it completely differently with Pina and learning an incredible amount of new information. We were also able to see some of the newer discoveries and areas of Pompeii, including absolutely incredible mosaics. Pina's knowledge of both the major sights and the smaller details we never would have noticed on our own made such a difference. After Pompeii, our driver took us into Naples, where Pina brought us to one of her favorite pizza places for lunch—and it was DELICIOUS! It was such a fun way to finish our time with her and made the day feel like we were experiencing the area with someone who genuinely loves it rather than simply following a tour itinerary. After lunch, our driver brought us directly to Napoli Centrale for our train, so the entire day—from being picked up at our hotel in Ravello, to Pompeii, to lunch in Naples, to being dropped off at the train station—was completely seamless. Pina is not only extraordinarily knowledgeable, but also so kind, warm, enthusiastic, and genuinely wonderful to spend time with. You can tell how much she loves the history and archaeology of this area, and her enthusiasm is contagious. We walked away feeling like we had learned an incredible amount while also having such a fun and memorable day. A private tour is obviously an investment, but this was 100% worth the money and one of the experiences from our honeymoon that we will remember forever. There is SO much to Pompeii that we never could have understood or appreciated to the same degree on our own. We cannot recommend Pina enough!!!

Dr Pina Esposito is terrific. She allowed us to book a private tour for 2 days. Half day in Pompeii and a full day with driver from Pompeii to Herculaneum and the Naples Museum. She took care of arranging tickets for us as well. She really enjoys sharing her knowledge of Pompeii and Herculaneum. She answered all our questions, and there were a lot. She explained in detail what we were looking at, not just walking us through the excavations. She is an active archeologist and knows these sites intimately. We highly recommend her if you truly want to explore Pompeii and Herculaneum.

What a great day! PIna got us to the Herculaneum right at opening time so we were the first guests to enter the park. She has a PhD in archaeology and is passionate about sharing her knowledge. She has worked with some of the archaeologists that participated in the excavations so has intimate knowledge of the findings and facts. She has an exuberant personality and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her! She also took us through Pompeii and brought the city to life for us. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

We had Pina Esposito as a tour guide for Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Archeology Museum. She has a huge amount of knowledge and it was absolutely worth it to have her help explain such important historical places. These sites were our primary reason for visiting Naples. She helped us put things in context, she explained how the knowledge of these sites is evolving over time and she gave us a better understanding of what life may have been like before, during and after these events. We highly recommend this tour to anybody seeking a better understanding of this history

We spent 2 memorable days with Pina exploring Pompeii and Villa Oplontis and another discovering the fascinating Phlegraean Fields. Her knowledge and enthusiasm for these wonderful places, putting everything in context, enhanced our visits. As a professional tour guide myself I can highly recommend Pina. She also covers Herculaneum, Naples city and the wonderful National Archaeological Museum etc.

Very knowledgable - provides an accessible narrative. Pina made the trip far more valuable to us by giving us the historical context of what we were seeing.

Having Dr. Esposito to guide our trip to Pompeii and Herculaneum made all the difference in the world. It was well worth the money we spent for this tour and in hindsight, we would not do it any other way. We were able to see much more than we could have on our own and learn much more about the culture, the times and events than we ever would have wandering aimlessly around reading plaques. She really made life in these two ancient cities a living reality for us. We usually get around by train but paid the extra for her driver on this outing. It made for a pleasant day, as having a car was a great time saver and an extra kindness to our feet. All around a rich experience!

My husband and I spent four incredible days with Pina in Naples, Pompeii ,Herculaneum and Paestum as well as the Amalfi coast. Pina has a highly knowledgeable in classical Roman and Greek history and Renaissance and modern Italian history. Her commitment to and enthusiasm for Italian history and culture is infectious. She is a delight to Be with and we recommend her highly.

If there is someone who knows more about Pompeii, then I want to meet that person. Because Dr Pina knows more about this historical site than any book or video I know! She explained the hidden gems of Pompeii in such an interesting and enjoyable manner! Plus, it was a one on one tour, so we were able to go at our own pace and look at things that large groups would not be able to experience. If you are thinking of going to Pompeii, I would highly recommend Pina!

We have recently spent two full days with Pina visiting Pompeii, Herculaneum, Villa San Marco at Stabiae, and Oplontis. We ended with a wine tasting and lunch at a vineyard on the slopes of the Vesuvius. Pina is the real thing; above all, she’s a scholar. My wife reads Greek and Latin and we are both interested in Roman history, so we wanted a knowledgeable guide. We learned from her. We also felt that she had an extra gear or two beyond what she used with us, and thought this was right. It’s never good to find out you know more than your guide (we had this experience twice in Rome, once with a private and once with a group guide). Pina is expensive. She’ll offer a discount up front but then tell you that a tip is expected which is larger than is usual in Italy and which erases the discount. We have made a concerted effort not to let that darken our experience. Pina is not only a knowledgeable guide, but also a good organizer. She bought all the tickets for us and arranged for transfers from the train station to the hotel on the first day and then back to the station on the last day. We did not want to experiment too much with the local drivers. On our only experience with the Napoli taxis, after we had walked to the seashore promenade on our own, the driver lived up to the reputation: he did not turn on the meter until he was asked to do so (in Italian - be ready to use the language). We owe Pina the visits to Oplontis, Stabiae, as well as the wine tasting and lunch at the vineyard on the slopes of the Vesuvius. We let her advise us on the content of the second day, and her advice was good. Above all we owe her our visit to the Sansevero chapel, where we got to see the Veiled Christ. Pina urged us to go there on our own on the last day in Napoli, before returning to Rome. She even looked up visiting times for us. She was absolutely right. Seeing Sansevero turned out to be the most astounding experience of our Italy trip. Next time we go to Napoli we would certainly consider hiring Pina again. There’s a lot to learn from her.