Madonna to celebrate 66th birthday with a visit to Pompeii

Madonna performs in the final show of her The Celebration Tour, on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

ROME — Madonna will celebrate her 66th birthday with a private evening tour of the famed Italian archaeological site at Pompeii, officials said.

Naples Prefect Michele Di Bari denied Italian media speculation the singer was planning a big birthday bash at the ancient city, destroyed in A.D. 79 when Mount Vesuvius erupted. But he confirmed Madonna was planning a private evening tour on Friday that was purely cultural in nature.

“She loves Pompeii, loves the archaeological park, and can’t wait to come,” he told reporters Tuesday, Aug. 13.

For decades, archaeologists have been excavating the ruins of Pompeii, regularly uncovering beautifully preserved frescoes, pottery and, just this week, a new set of human remains.

Honoree Madonna appears at the 30th annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York on May 4, 2019. Madonna has rescheduled her North American “Celebration Tour” dates following a “serious bacterial infection” that led to her hospitalization in an intensive care unit for several days in June. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Madonna, whose family hails from Italy’s Abruzzo region, has been in Italy for several days, reportedly as a guest of designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.

On Tuesday evening, she was filmed taking an evening walk in the Ligurian resort of Portofino wearing black lace and carrying an umbrella. She later dined with her two daughters and entourage at Portofino’s famous Puny Restaurant on the main piazza.

Madonna ended her respective “Celebration Tour” in May with a free concert on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.

An email to Madonna’s publicist was not immediately returned.