Fodor's Expert Review MAR -- Museo Archeologico Romano

Painstaking excavations begun in 2003 below the oratory of Santa Maria Assunta are now open to the public and showcase tantalizing traces of Positano's vast Roman settlement buried by the AD 79 eruption. Through volcanic debris some 30 feet below the piazzetta is a cool subterranean world with different captivating chambers and crypts. The new entrance by the campanile leads to the most recently discovered Roman villa excavations, which sit below the Cripta Superiore with its spine-tingling funereal seating, reserved for Positano's most upstanding 18th-century citizens (i.e., the wealthy wanting to book a pew in heaven), members of the Confraternita del Monte dei Morti. Among the Roman artifacts are vibrant frescoes, ornate stucco reliefs, intricate bronzes and ceramics, and the mother of all stone mortars. The excellent restoration shows the impact of eruptions in the strewn debris, contorted surfaces, and cracks; glass stairs and walkways, multimedia displays. and subtle lighting cleverly illuminate the finest details below your feet and all around. Another entrance nearby leads to the Cripta Inferiore, with two naves, marble columns, and later additions (a rough stone altar believed through various documents to be dedicated to the Nativity, plus some 17th-century funereal seating). Ask one of the enthusiastic archaeological guides stationed in the small box by the church entrance for a tour, and you'll be guided down the steps to the new Ingresso Museo Villa Romana entrance behind the bell tower.