Pompeii had more than two dozen bakeries operating until Vesuvius blew in 79 CE. At the time, I had already built a number of 'Pompeii' style brick ovens and was curious to see the real thing. What I observed and came to understand, was that these bakeries were high-production. Doing the math, a city of 50,000 requiring daily fresh bread from say 25 bakeries meant that the ovens were baking hundreds of loaves a day. I understand that some wealthy families had their own bakeries.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qmDTg1nIRL5MRWqpWY5mXO4Mi0R8kVT_RFzZl0rHKDcFEKsAz_0ijzJrwl74l9L5TTfARnIQX-0lRAq6M-KDEl0hTXk-HlLihSTbDaKFYyK5if9895gZfR5Ett96cyQxifB8yjesFP2-/s280/pompeii+bakery+side+access.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMx1NMVSEoU43-n1YNbHvkgpfJfqSYgwxFUUYljT5UbmE7P4O61S8a2hB-QnAI8Sc3D0bu-yb38LT1bPq7lTXhF0HkYDcGzla87Mbf8MlstdSr4lLXtV-hYIMlz2FiZ3aXm2cYJ-6GicK7/s200/pompeii+bakery+ergo.jpg)
All of the surviving ovens I saw had this feature and none of the ovens built later in small communities and in private villas in other parts of Italy showed this same feature.
A currently-built brick oven bakery might employ this same design.
No comments:
Post a Comment