The management of Pompeii (Italy) recently decided to use eco-grazing to preserve the ruins of the archaeological site from weeds, reports The Huffington Post. At the beginning of March, a flock of 150 sheep settled with its shepherd in the ancient city, as relayed by Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of Pompeii, through a video published on his social networks.
Sheep help cutting the grass in the unexcavated areas of #pompeii pic.twitter.com/oBk7frtWwy
— Gabriel Zuchtriegel (@GZuchtriegel) March 7, 2023
Access to this content has been blocked in order to respect your choice of consent
By clicking on "I ACCEPT", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners
I AGREE
And to better pay 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our button "I accept for today" in the banner below.
More information on the Cookie Policy page.
Sheep play an essential role here, since the grass that grows in and out of the ruins gradually damages them. The eco-grazing solution would therefore have many advantages. "We save money by bringing in sheep rather than machines and people," Zuchtriegel said.
A touch of authenticity
In addition, at the time of the rediscovery of the site in the eighteenth century, many sheep were present on site. "It really gives an idea of what Pompeii was like at the time it was rediscovered. There were woods, vineyards, sheep and it was this type of rural landscape," explained the director of Pompeii. The herd comes to give a new level of authenticity to this tourist site.
Interviewed by Reuters news agency, Gaspare De Martino, the shepherd of the flock, said he was "honored" by this new opportunity granted to him. His sheep had already been able to graze on the site last November. This time, they are expected to stay there until the end of the year.
- Did you see?
- Italy
- Pompei
- Archaeology
- Monument
- Sheep
- Video