Two photos from Italy's Amalfi Coast, including houses at Positano, and a boat used by restaurant Da Adolfo

From left: Juliette Charvet; Simon Watson From left: The town of Positano, on Italy's Amalfi Coast; a fishing boat ferries diners to Da Adolfo, a restaurant near Positano.

It all began, as things often do when you're a child, with a story. Last spring, a book called "Pompeii…Buried Alive!" became the subject of intense fascination for my daughter, Stella, and her little brother, Leo. One minute the Amazon delivery guy was at the door; the next, all the two of them could talk about was the demise of this southern Italian town — the cataclysmic 79 A.