This miniseries did not deserve such a low rating :it is thoroughly entertaining and there's never a dull moment.Obviously the screenplay inevitably borrows from Bulwer Lytton's "last days of Pompeii"(the volcano,the Christians),but also from Lewis Wallace (the heroes lose everything ,and the Marco/Tiberius relationship sometimes leads into Ben Hur/Messala territory ,but in the end ,it succeeds in making Tiberius a non-cardboard character ,not a small feat in such a context).The hero,his fiancée and her family are virtuous people,the villains are delightful ,from the evil swindler in love with the heroine to his nymphomaniac wife who sleeps with gladiators and covets both the hero and even his girl (scene of the bath).There is also a riddle,a detective story,a political plot ,the screenplay has a little something for everyone.And nobody escapes by boat,which was impossible,the guide in Pompeii would tell you so ,should you visit it some day.
For a non-Italian audience,the only really famous actor is seventy-year -old Giuliano Gemma ,cast as Emperor Titus ,but unfortunately he 's got only two scenes.
Oh,and the scene when the heroine tries to free her squeeze with an axe is borrowed from "Titanic".
A little something for everybody ,I told you so!
