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Two mural paintings located in the “House of Garden”, recently excavated in the Regio V of the archaeological site of Pompeii (Campania, Southern Italy), were studied. The mural paintings are in room 3 of the house. The first is a large-scale scene representing Venus with a male figure (possibly Adonis or Paris since he has a bow) and Eros, while the second one is a fine female portrait, perhaps depicting the domina of the house. All analyses were carried out in situ, using a new non-destructive methodology based on the acquisition of good-resolution visible images and the chemical information obtained by a portable hand-held X-ray fluorescence device. All data were statistically combined using a computer program, named SmART_scan, obtaining maps of the distribution of the elements (or compounds) on the painting. Visible induced luminescence (VIL) was used to confirm the presence of Egyptian Blue. The study performed on the two mural paintings allowed us to identify the various pigments used and to determine the presence of degradation products, such as soluble salts and a violet-black discoloration that, in the first painting, has modified some of the original colours, producing substantial changes in the interpretation of the figures. The results of the work show that the SmART_scan methodology, coupled with an X-ray fluorescence device and a good-resolution visible image, is a valid tool for obtaining the spacial distribution of each element and often of the pigments as combination of them, on large surfaces in a short time and at low cost.

In 2015 the Department of History and Cultures of the University of Bologna took part at the Grande Progetto Pompei – Piano della Conoscenza, with the task to accomplish a modern and complete documentation of the so-called Lotto 3 in Pompeii. The new record was carried out by means of integrated innovative diagnostic survey techniques (laser scanning, photogrammetry, UAV, geophysical prospections applied for mapping subsoil and standing structures, 3D modelling and BIM applications) in order to provide a total documentary research of the whole analysed sector. After this experience, in 2016 a new project has been started in agreement with the competent Soprintendenza Pompeii, focused at the study, preservation and enhancement of the House of Obellio Firmo, included in the lotto 3 of the Roman city. The new research contemplates an in-depth analysis of the building, employing systematically laser scanning and photogrammetry methods in the direction to generate a geometrically and photometrically accurate 3D model of the house. This model is going to constitute the starting point for the further analysis of the walls stratigraphies and for the mapping and monitoring of the structures' degradation, just turned on during the GPP. The full-scale deepened documentation of the building also includes a detailed geophysical mapping of all the accessible domestic spaces, having recourse to the ground penetrating radar technique. The preliminary results achieved by the non-invasive prospecting survey, integrated with the analysis of the outstanding walls and building techniques, are supporting in a worthwhile way the archaeological understanding and interpretation of the house's history, with both regard to the early genesis and main evolutive phases during the centuries. In order to allow the management and sharing of the amount of the gathered information, the data are going to be organised within a building information model (BIM). The triple objective of the project includes: - the reconstruction of a fragment of the ancient urban landscape in Pompeii during the oldest phase, before the 79 AC and with particular attention to the Samnitic period; the outlining of a well-founded strategy of intervention for the restoration and enhancement of the House of Obellio Firmo; the re-opening of the building to the sightseeings tours and its restitution to the wider fruition.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Detached red tessera from the mosaic. Figure S2. Representative DRIFT spectra of red and orange tesserae (red) and calcite standard (black). Figure S3. Representative Raman spectrum of white tesserae. Figure S4. Normalized net counts of S in different white tesserae. Figure S5. Representative Raman spectrum of black tesserae and leucite standard. Figure S6. Mean values of Fe/Ca normalized net counts of red and orange colored tesserae. Figure S7. Ca and Fe lines intensity variation after 28 shots obtained by means of LIBS.

A new stratigraphic survey of the pyroclastic deposits blanketing Pompeii ruins shows departures from prior reconstruction of the events that occurred inside the town during the two main phases (pumice fallout and pyroclastic density currents) of the ad 79 Vesuvius eruption. We document the depth and distribution of subaerial erosion surfaces in the upper part of the pyroclastic sequence, formed during two short-lived breaks occurring in the course of the second phase of the eruption. These pauses could explain why 50% of the victims were found in the streets during the pyroclastic density currents phase.