Off a narrow stone street and through several open-air rooms, a gate opens onto a garden that, 2,000 years ago, belonged to the lavish Casa Pansa villa.
Inside the garden’s stone walls, a group of young adults with autism are plucking ripe fruit from the branches of an orange tree.
Among the orange and lemon trees are rows of peas and lavender, roses, herbs, and small clay pots containing grapevine shoots. All the plants are indigenous to Pompeii and grew here before Vesuvius erupted in AD 79.
“This is Pompeii,” said Alex, 30, showing off his chops in English before sliding into Italian.
