Mount Vesuvius

Of the many eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, a major stratovolcano in southern Italy, the best-known is its eruption in 79 AD, which was one of the deadliest and best-known in European history.In the autumn of 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth a deadly cloud of super-heated tephra and gases to a height of 33 km (21 mi), ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The event gives its name to the Vesuvian type of volcanic eruption, characterised by columns of hot gases and ash reaching the stratosphere, although the event also included pyroclastic flows associated with Pelean eruptions. The event destroyed several towns and minor settlements in the area, at the time part of the Roman Empire. Pompeii and Herculaneum, obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits, are the most famous examples. After archaeological excavations revealed much about the lives of the inhabitants, the area became a major tourist attraction and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and part of Vesuvius National Park. The total population of both cities was over 20,000. The remains of over 1,500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum so far, although the total death toll from the eruption remains unknown.

Vesuvius National Park (Italian: Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio) is an Italian national park centered on the active volcano Vesuvius, southeast from Naples. The park was founded on June 5, 1995, and covers an area of around 135 square kilometers all located within the Province of Naples. It is centered on the active volcano and its most ancient (now inactive) crater, Monte Somma. It houses 612 vegetable species and 227 wildlife ones.

The Battle of Vesuvius (also known as the Battle of the Veseris) was the first recorded battle of the Latin War. The battle was fought near Mount Vesuvius in 340 BC between the Romans, with their allies the Samnites, against a coalition of several peoples: Latins, Campanians, Volsci, Sidicini, and Aurunci. The surviving sources on the battle, however, focus almost solely on the Romans (led by Titus Manlius Torquatus and Publius Decius Mus) and the Latins. The battle became famous for two episodes said to have taken place: Manlius Torquatus' execution of his own son after he disobeyed orders and fought an enemy champion in single combat, and the self-sacrifice of Decius Mus, who devoted himself and the enemy army to the gods of the underworld, and then charged into the enemy lines and was slain.After Decius Mus had fallen, consul Manlius Torquatus led his veteran reserve against Latin lines and killed or captured nearly three fourths of the Latin army. The remaining soldiers of the Latin army fled, but because the Roman loss was so great, they could not pursue their enemies.

Mount Somma (Italian: Monte Somma, lit. 'Mount Summit') is a mountain located in the Province of Naples, in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is 1,132 metres (3,714 ft) high. It is an integral part of the Somma–Vesuvius volcanic complex and of the larger Campanian volcanic arc, which is known for its high levels of seismic and volcanic activity. The volcano is believed to have formed over 25,000 years ago. It has a collapsed caldera of an older volcano, with Mount Vesuvius rising up from the center. Despite the potential dangers associated with living near an active volcano, the Somma volcano and its surroundings are a popular tourist destination.

The Avellino eruption of Mount Vesuvius refers to a Vesuvian eruption in c. 1995 BC. It is estimated to have had a VEI of 6, making it larger and more catastrophic than Vesuvius's more famous and well-documented 79 AD eruption. It is the source of the Avellino pumice (Italian: Pomici di Avellino) deposits extensively found in the comune of Avellino in Campania.

Boscotrecase (Italian pronunciation: [bɔskotre(k)ˈkaːse, -aːze]]) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 20 km southeast of Naples. Boscotrecase, which many considered a resort, sat on the southern slopes of Mount Vesuvius and was home to many villas and farmhouses. One of these villas was the villa at Boscotrecase, a villa owned by Agrippa, general and right-hand man of Emperor Augustus, and his wife Julia. In 79 A.D. an eruption from Vesuvius buried the villa at Boscotrecase, also known as the Villa of Agrippa Postumus, the Imperial Villa, and the Villa of Augusta. The villa is best known for its ancient Roman works of art, especially its frescoes. Because the ash from Mount Vesuvius's eruption preserved the frescoes, they were able to be excavated between 1903 and 1905. The frescoes come from various cubicula, or bedrooms that served as places of sociability and business, along the villa's southern hallway that overlooks the bay of Naples.The frescoes that were excavated are now shared between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. A fragment from the villa was discovered in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums in 2007. It was acquired in 1921 from Albert Gallatin.

Palazzo de Félice (Italian for Palace of the de Félice) is a 16th-century palace in Somma Vesuviana, Province of Naples, in Campania. It is an ancestral home of the de Félice family.

Somma Vesuviana is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy.

The Villa of Augustus (Latin: Villa Augustae) is a villa in Somma Vesuviana that was owned by Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. Literary sources detailed the villa as the site where Augustus died. In April 2024, archaeologists from the University of Tokyo claimed to have discovered the villa after excavations on its purported location that started in 2002.

Pollena Trocchia is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 11 km east of Naples. It was created in 1811 from two already existing villages, Pollena and Trocchia, both of Samnite-Etruscan origin. Pollena took its name from the cult of Apollo, who had an important temple here in the Roman and pre-Roman ages. Both were destroyed by the 1631 eruption of Vesuvius. The baths of an ancient Roman villa were discovered at Masseria De Carolis in Pollena Trocchia in 1988 and subsequently exposed.

The Villa Poppaea is an ancient luxurious Roman seaside villa (villa maritima) located in Torre Annunziata between Naples and Sorrento, in Southern Italy. It is also called the Villa Oplontis or Oplontis Villa A. as it was situated in the ancient Roman town of Oplontis. It was buried and preserved in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, like the nearby cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, about 10 m (33 ft) below modern ground level. The quality of the decorations and construction suggests that it was owned by the Emperor Nero, and a pottery shard bearing the name of a freedman of Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of the emperor Nero was found at the site, which suggests the villa may have been her residence when she was away from Rome and which gives it its popular name.It was sumptuously decorated with fine works of art. Its marble columns and capitals mark it out as being especially luxurious compared with others in this region that usually had stuccoed brick columns. Many artifacts from Oplontis are preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. Parts of the villa lying under modern structures remain unexcavated.

Oplontis is an ancient Roman archaeological site located in the town of Torre Annunziata, south of Naples in the Campania region of southern Italy. The excavated site comprises two Roman villas, the best-known of which is Villa A, the so-called Villa Poppaea. Like the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Oplontis was buried in ash during the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. However, the force of the eruption was even stronger than at these cities as not only roofs collapsed, but walls and columns were broken and pieces thrown sideways.