text: Herculaneum is smaller ( only a fraction has been recovered ) and less renowned than Pompeii , but its very compactness and better preservation give a more immediate sense of the shape and ambience of a whole Roman town , this one just 7 km ( 4 1 / 2 miles ) from Vesuvius .
  
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  Herculaneum is a smaller yet better preserved town than Pompeii .