In 1738, at the behest of the King of Naples, Charles of Bourbon, the first systematic explorations of Herculaneum’s subsoil began through a network of shafts and tunnels which made it possible to overcome the approximately 20 m of volcanic subsoil to reach the floor of the ancient city. The hardness of the volcanic mud and the difficulty of digging underground tunnels caused the enterprise to be abandoned after only a few decades. Following limited open excavations in the 19th century, it was only in 1927 that the new excavations of Herculaneum began, under the direction of Amedeo Maiuri, thanks to which a large part of the area that today constitutes the archaeological park was cleared, restored and opened to the public.

In the 1980s, there was a new impetus for excavations at Herculaneum that unearthed the ancient shoreline, leading to the discovery of the skeletons of the escapees and a boat. A new excavation campaign took place in the 1990s, with the partial excavation of several houses and a portion of the Villa dei Papiri (Villa of the Papyri). With work ongoing since the 1970s, these new excavations took place during a period of serious crisis for the site of Herculaneum due to the progressive disruption to the system of periodic maintenance and restoration created by Amedeo Maiuri. This led to the closure of numerous houses and entire sections of roads, while the number of supports used to limit the risk of collapse multiplied in the city.

In 2002, Herculaneum and Pompeii were referred to in a Pisa-Euromed Conference as “the only archaeological sites in the western world in such an advanced state of deterioration without a civil war to justify it”. Since 2001, a major conservation programme has been in place at the archaeological site of Herculaneum, the Herculaneum Conservation Project. In 2012, reference was made to Herculaneum in a letter from UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova following her visit in September, as a positive model whose “best practices can certainly be replicated at other major archaeological sites around the world”. A special note was included about “the efforts made in close cooperation with the local authorities and the community for the long-term preservation of the site”.

This public-private collaboration is an initiative of the Packard Humanities Institute, operating in Italy through the Packard Institute for Cultural Heritage, and conducted in close collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Culture and other partners, aimed at securing, restoring and promoting the site.

With the creation of the Herculaneum Archaeological Park in 2016 as an autonomous institute, led by a Director and vested with managerial autonomy, a strong impetus was given to the implementation of restoration projects, enhancement and improvement of the visitor experience, creating territorial networks and initiatives to involve the local community that were gradually more and more integrated into the Institute’s planning.