VESUVIUS

The only active volcano in mainland Italy, Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

That eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ash and fumes to a height of 20.5 miles, spewingmolten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by theHiroshima bombing.

[1] An estimated 16,000 people died due to hydrothermalpyroclastic flows.[2] The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. Today you can hike up to the top of the cone and enjoy a breath taking view of the the smoking creater and the most densely populated volcanic region in the world.