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___ Famous Landmarks: Sacred Mountains - Satellite View and Map of Mount Vesuvius (Ital.: Monte Vesuvio)

 
Vesuvius from Pompeii
Ruins of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city and many villas in the area were mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m of ash and pumice (a volcanic rock) in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Image: James Harrold
 

About Mount Vesuvius

Satellite view is showing Mount Vesuvius in the Campania region of Italy, a stratovolcano about 13 km (8 mi; straight-line distance) south east of the ancient center of Naples. Vesuvius is the only volcano on European mainland which has erupted within the last hundred years, the last eruption was in 1944, the volcano is considered active and dangerous and is therefor closely watched. If, or better when, Vesuvius will erupt again, and if the eruption points in the wrong direction, the destructive pyroclastic flow of hot gas and rock with the speed of 600 km/h sweeping along close to the ground, will reach sprawling Naples within seconds.

Vesuvius, Naples, Italy
Vesuvius seen from plane.
Image: Pastorius

VE
A Plinian eruption seen from space.
Image: NASA
 
In ancient times Greeks and Romans regarded Mount Vesuvius as being sacred to the hero and demigod Heracles/Hercules, the son of god Jupiter/Zeus. The ancient town of Herculaneum was named after him.

In the year 79 AD on 24 August, one day after the annual Vulcanalia festival in honor of Vulcan, the god of beneficial and hindering fire, Mount Vesuvius changed history with a highly explosive eruption, sending for two days rocks, dust, gas and pyroclastic material into the stratosphere at rate of thousands of tones per second, followed by voluminous lava flows, and volcanic ash rain.

The debris buried the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae and led to the death of estimated 10,000 to 25,000 people.

The region around Naples is an area of highly volcanic activity, beside Vesuvius there are the Phlegraean Fields, a large volcanic area situated to the west of Naples. The Fields include the Naples districts of Agnano and Fuorigrotta, the area of Pozzuoli, Bacoli, Monte di Procida, Quarto, and the Phlegrean Islands of Ischia, Procida and Vivara.

Zoom out to see the location of the volcanic islands of Ischia and Procida, and the island of Capri.
 
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Local Time Naples:
Sunday-December-8  19:22  
Standard Time Zone (CET): UTC/GMT +1 hour
CEST (Daylight Saving Time) in use from end of March until end of October: time zone offset: UTC/GMT +2 hours
φ Latitude, λ Longitude (of Map center; move the map to see coordinates):
,
 
Google Earth: Searchable map/satellite view of Mount Vesuvius, Naples.

Google Earth Explore Mount Vesuvius 3D in Google Earth
(Make sure the Terrain layer in Google Earth is checked.)

Coordinates 40°49′N 14°26′E
 
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next landmark: Mount Olympus
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The Colosseum
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External Links:
Wikipedia: Mount Vesuvius
 
Weather Conditions Naples - Ercolano



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