The Vesuvius waked up on 24^th August 79 A.C. after a very long dream, taking by surprise the peopole of this area. The eruption was apocalyptic, each sign of life was cancelled around the vulcano. The cities went lost and forgotten. 1700 years later, the little towns of the Vesuvius came back to the light again, introducing Herculaneum and Pompeii as the most important archeologic sites world wide. Unlike Pompeii which has been buried beneath heaps of ashes and cinders, Herculaneum was covered under 25 m muds. As the bodies decayed the mud closed around the materials preserving everything. In 1709 Prince d'Elboeuf ordered to dig a well in one of his villas and struck accidentally a part of the theatre. King Charles of Borbone ordered officially the begin of the excavations in 1738. The most clamorous surprise was the discovery of the majestic Papyrus Villa (Villa dei Papiri), in which was found a real patrimony of bronze and marble sculptures as well as the papyrus library (more than 1800 texts of philosophy), conserved nowadays at the National Library of Naples.