A 2,000-year-old love note has been discovered etched into the walls of ancient Pompeii.
Despite the wall being excavated 230 years ago, new technology has now revealed a number of inscriptions left behind by Romans.
The ancient city was famously frozen in time after being buried under heaps of volcanic ash and pumice following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
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Experts uncovered around 300 inscriptions scratched into the wall – including a touching love message and a scene depicting a gladiator fight.
The discoveries were made by researchers working on Project Corridor Rumors, who uncovered the etchings in two separate waves of research in 2022 and 2025.
The love note reads: “I’m in a hurry; take care, my Sava, make sure you love me!”
Other markings were described as graffiti at the time, as reported by What’s The Jam.
The project was led by Louis Autin, Éloïse Letellier-Taillefer, of Sorbonne University in Paris, and Marie-Adeline Le Guennec, from the University of Quebec in Montreal.
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Today, Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a hugely popular tourist attraction and archaeological park.
The park said the writings: “Attest to the vitality, the multiplicity of interactions and forms of sociality, which developed in a public space so frequented by the inhabitants of ancient Pompeii.”
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the archaeological park’s director, said: “Technology is the key that opens new rooms of the ancient world, and we must also share those rooms with the public.
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“We are working on a project to protect and enhance the writings, which number over 10,000 throughout Pompeii, an immense heritage.
“Only the use of technology can guarantee a future for all this memory of life lived in Pompeii.”
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