The dogs

Mulvia and Vesuvius adopted. Marisa Laurito special god-mother for the adoption.

The success of the campaign for the adoption of the dogs of Pompeii continues. The project (C)Ave Canem “Adopt Meleagro”, set up to address the problem of strays in the archaeological area, attracted the attention of Albertina Balestrieri, a teacher of history and philosophy from Gragnano (NA), who chose to give her affection to two of our four-legged friends. After Eumachia, also Mulvia and Vesuvius have found a home: special god-mother for the meeting the delightful popular actress Marisa Laurito, who has always been committed to animal welfare. On Wednesday 20th January, as guests of the archaeological site, Albertina Balestrieri and her family visited the Forum and the graneries where there is the cast of the dog found in the Domus of Orfeo, continuing on to the Domus of Cecilio Giocondo, where a mosaic which features a dog, and to PortaVesuvio and the tomb of Vestorio Prisco, where there is the inscription that Mulvia Prisca commissioned for the funeral of her son. “I thank the Commissario delegato, Marcello Fiori, for the idea behind the project “Adopt Meleagro”, and all the people who are making it possible”, declared Carla Rocchi, national president of ENPA, “the results are arriving both in terms of accepting the dogs in the archeological site and, especially, in the promising start of the adoptions. In particular, I thank Marisa Laurito, a friend of ENPA and a woman with a big heart, whose committment shall certainly be a stimulus for new adoptions.”

Who are Mulvia and Vesuvius?

Mulvia is a beautiful German Shepherd female. Quiet and sociable, she has become wise through the adventures she has had to overcome during her six years of life. She is capable of wonderful relationships with people, and on first sight impresses for her affectionate and open behaviour. She left the zone near the necropolis of Porta Vesuvio, where she was the long-time favourite of many visitors, for her new life which will be filled with the love and attention of Albertina and her family. Someone will miss her but it is nice to know that the affection surrounding her will serve to cancel the melancholy shadows which sometimes beset her.

The brown eyes of Vesuvius are the mirror of his friendliness. He is a male griffon dog mix with short black fur and with a white mark on his chin and another on his chest. He is very sociable and friendly, and loves walking about and getting himself patted. Everyone who met him in Piazza Esedra, one of his favourite places, knows this: a kind word and a bit of attention were enough to see him wagging his tail while he acted as a guide to the excavations for his improvised family. From now on he won’t have to content himself with those scraps of affection: a real house and, more importantly, a real family are waiting to give him all the love he deserves and which he shall certainly be able to return.

Who were Mulvia and Vesuvius?

While it is superfluous to talk about the derivation of the name Vesuvius, the history of the name Mulvia must be told. This pretty little wolf of our times’ preferred zone of the archaeological site of Pompeii is the necropolis of Porta Vesuvio. Here there is the tomb of a youth called Vestorio Prisco who died at the tender age of twenty-two. Belonging to a very well-to-do family which was highly visible in the society of the time, Vestorio Prisco had already gained the prestigious title of Buildings Magistrate, an office which he carried out for a short time before his premature death. Such a tragic event was marked in a particular way by his mother Mulvia Prisca who, distraught with pain, honoured her lost son with a funeral ceremony and a burial which cost the enormous sum of two thousand sesterces. This untimely death and its sad epilogue were testified by an epigraph found on Vestorio’s tomb, in the necropolis of Porta Vesuvio.