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When were the ruins of Pompeii first discovered?

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Ruins of ancient Pompeii with stone columns and walls in the foreground, and Mount Vesuvius rising in the background under a partly cloudy sky. — Pompeii Mount Vesuvius rising up over the ruins of the ancient Roman city Pompeii.

The ruins of Pompeii were first discovered in the late 16th century by the architect Domenico Fontana.21

While the site was initially identified in the 1500s, systematic excavation did not begin until 1748. It was not until 1763, following the discovery of an inscription reading "Rei publicae Pompeianorum," that the site was definitively confirmed to be the ancient city of Pompeii. These mid-18th-century efforts are widely recognized as the beginning of the modern science of archaeology.21