TesseraJust the essentials
1 h 7 minWhat people come here for: the Forum, the House of the Faun, the Lupanar, the Great Theatre. Take this one if time is short.
01
Pompeii audio guidePompeii, explained where you stand
Forty-four hectares of ruins with almost no signage and no usable mobile signal. Tessera shows where you are on the plan of the park and tells you what you are looking at — downloaded before you go, working in airplane mode.
$6.99 USDonce, not a subscription
73narrated stops
55 minof narration in English
8languages, one purchase
02
Listen before you buy
These five stories are free forever, in the app and here. No sign-up, no email — press play.
03
Three ways to walk it
Times are counted, not guessed: walking distance over the real street graph, plus every story, plus ninety seconds of standing and looking at each stop.
Houses and new digs
1 h 49 minFrescoes, mosaics and what came out of the ground in the last few years: the Black Room, the hall of Dionysian mysteries, the bakery-prison. Guidebooks do not have these yet.
The whole city
3 h 25 minFrom the Marina Gate to the Amphitheatre by way of the Forum, the residential quarters and Via dell'Abbondanza. Half a day, and nothing left out.
04
What you get
Works with no signal
Audio, photographs and the map live on your phone. Inside the excavations there is no coverage, and that is exactly where the guide has to work.
It offers, you decide
Nothing ever starts playing on its own. Walk up to something, and the app offers the story of the object next to you.
Eight languages, one payment
English, Russian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, French and Chinese are all included. Switching language later is a download, not another purchase.
A plan, not a tourist map
Streets, insulae, the city wall and the gates, drawn from survey data. Search finds a place by name, by number or by keyword.
05
Questions
Does it really work without internet?
Yes. Once downloaded, everything — audio, photographs, the map and the routes — is on the phone. You need a connection once, to download, and never again.
How much does it cost?
The app is free to install and includes five stories. Opening all 73 is a single payment of $6.99. There is no subscription and nothing expires. The price is set in US dollars; the App Store and Google Play show the equivalent in your local currency, which can differ slightly.
Which languages are included?
English, Russian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, French and Chinese — all eight in the same purchase. You choose inside the app and can switch at any time.
How long does a visit take?
Between one hour and three and a half, depending on the route. The shortest covers the Forum, the House of the Faun and the theatres; the longest crosses the whole city from the Sea Gate to the Amphitheatre.
Do I still need a ticket to Pompeii?
Yes. Tessera is a guide, not an entrance ticket. Buy admission to the archaeological park as usual.
How much space does it take?
About 80 MB for one language, downloaded once. Photographs are shared between languages.
Is there an Android version?
Yes. Tessera is on Google Play for Android phones and on the App Store for iPhone (iOS 16.4 or newer). The stories, the map, the routes and the price are the same on both.
Who narrates the stories?
The texts were written for this guide and are read by a synthetic voice, one per language. Nothing is taken from a printed guidebook.
06
Before you go
How long does Pompeii actually take?
Walking times measured on the real street grid, and what they leave out.
How to get to Pompeii from Naples, Sorrento and Rome
Which train, which station, and which entrance it brings you to.
Do you need a guide in Pompeii?
Live guide, official audioguide, app or nothing — what each actually gives you.
Pompeii or Herculaneum?
One is vast and ruined, the other small and almost intact. Which suits you.
What has been dug up in Pompeii recently
The Black Room, the Dionysian frieze and the rest of Regio IX.
Pompeii in a wheelchair or with a stroller
The barrier-free route, the real surface, and the park’s own caveats.
Pompeii in summer: heat, shade and water
When to arrive, what to carry, and which route survives the heat.
Visiting Pompeii
Practical write-ups about visiting Pompeii: measured walking times, which entrance to use, what the site is like underfoot, and what to download first.