Mt vesuvius where is it located

Keep reading below on how to see Mt. How to see Mt. Why of course you enter the Vesuvius National park. There is a flat admission fee and then you can stay inside as long as you want. Since the volcano is quite big, you can take your time and see the site at your own pace. We are a tour company, so we always recommend giving tours, not only to keep our lights on but also because we believe it is by far the best way on how to see Mt. You can definitely DIY Mt.

Vesuvius, but you will definitely get much more out of your time with a local, expert guide. Check out some options:. Vesuvius Day Trip: From Rome. Have you ever walked through the ruins of an ancient city then climbed up the volcano that destroyed it in the first place? Probably not. Staying in the Amalfi Coast? We offer this private tour to give you an experience that you can take at your own pace. As you can imagine, visiting a volcano might not be the quickest thing to do. It is literally a mountain that you climb up.

The National park offers 9 different paths that you can take to get to the top with some being quicker than others. Therefore I recommend that you budget a minimum of hours to get to the crater.

You can also take your time and spend the entire day up there. They are broken down into the following:. Mount Vesuvius formed due to the collision of the Eurasian and African tectonic plates, roughly around 25, years ago.

Though several eruptions occurred prior to 79 AD, this eruption is widely considered one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions of all time. Much of that destruction was not even repaired, come the 79 AD eruptions. The events of the 79 AD eruptions are famously recounted by Pliny the Younger in two letters written to another historian named Tacitus. Combined with geological evidence, much of the information we have now about Mount Vesuvius and its 79 AD eruptions is thanks to Pliny the Younger, the only surviving eyewitness account of these events.

In the letters, Pliny the Younger describes the last days of Pliny the Elder, his uncle. As Pliny the Younger writes, Pliny the Elder noticed early volcanic activity occurring across the Bay of Naples and organized a rescue mission. He describes how his uncle died due to a mass of sulfurous gas. Geologists believe there were three significant Mount Vesuvius eruptions prior to the one in A.

Until about , geologists and historians believe the volcano erupted about a dozen times, with varying severity. In , however, the volcano entered a period of frequent volcanic activity. Also known among locals as Vesuvio, the mighty mountain and an active volcano. It stands 4, feet 1, meters tall and has a semi-circular ridge called Mount Soma that rises 3, feet. It has erupted more than 50 times in the past, although it is most famous for its massively destructive and deadly eruption that destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Mount Vesuvius remained fairly dormant for centuries before its famed eruption in 79 A. During the height of the Roman empire , the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum thrived at the foot of the mountain along with its 20, inhabitants composed of farmers and merchants. They built magnificent structures, opulent Roman baths , and extravagant villas surrounded by vineyards and orchards that sprung out of its dark fertile soil.

Little did they know that the latter was the result of early eruptions that fortified the soil with volcanic materials. On August 24, A. By noon that day, Mount Vesuvius exploded spewing volcanic ash and clouds of gas.

It caused major problems for the newly-arrived Allied forces in Italy when ash and rocks from the eruption destroyed planes and forced evacuations at a nearby airbase. Her concentration is in volcanology, and she is currently researching lava dome collapses and pyroclastic flows. She also writes the Magma Cum Laude blog , and in what spare time she has left, she enjoys rock climbing and playing various stringed instruments.

Simplified plate tectonics cross-section Simplified plate tectonics cross-section showing how Mount Vesuvius is located above a subduction zone formed where the African plate descends beneath Italy. Map: Where is Vesuvius? Plaster casts: Victims of the 79 A. Ruins at the ancient city of Pompeii Brick columns stand among ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii. Did You Know?

The 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius is why volcanologists use "Plinian" to describe large volcanic eruption clouds. Pliny the Younger, a Roman historian who witnessed the 79 AD eruption, wrote the oldest surviving description of the tall, tree-shaped cloud that rose above the volcano.

Modern volcanologists use the term to describe large-volume, violent eruptions that produce quickly-expanding clouds of rock, ash and gases which rise many miles into the atmosphere. Some more recent examples of Plinian eruptions include Mount St. Helens in and Pinatubo in Here is Pliny's description Its general appearance can be best expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first blast and then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed.

Sometimes it looked white, sometimes blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes it carried with it. Gates, A. Wortel, M. The noise is like that of bowling balls slapping into the pins on a giant bowling alley. To look above the mountain tonight, one would think that the world was on fire. The thickly clouded sky glows like that above a huge forest fire. Glowing brighter as new spouts of flame and lava are spewn from the crater.

As the clouds pass from across the top of the mountain, the flame and lava can be seen shooting high into the sky to spill over the sides and run in red streams down the slopes. Today it is estimated that a path of molten lava 1 mile long, half a mile wide, and 8 feet deep is rolling down the mountain.

Towns on the slopes are preparing to evacuate. Our location is, apparently, safe. At any rate no one here, civilian or Army authorities, seems too much worried.

Lava has not started to flow down this side of the mountain as yet but is flowing on the other side toward Naples. On March 22, they were forced to evacuate, leaving behind 88 Allied aircraft.

After the volcano subsided, they returned on the 30th to find the planes were a total loss. Engines were clogged by ash, control panels were useless tangles of fused wire, canopies had holes from flying rock or were etched to opacity by wind driven ash.

One airman of the th Bomber Squadron complained in his diary when Axis Sally broadcast a radio show dedicated to the "survivors" of the Vesuvius eruption actually the most severe human casualty was a wrist sprained during the evacuation. She told all of Europe that "Colonel Vesuvius" had destroyed all of them. The diarist was justifiably proud of the work he did with his fellows in recovery. By April 15, the planes had been replaced and the th Bomber Group was back to full strength and ready to fly missions from their new base.