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| Italy 2006: Mt. Vesuvius |
The Vesuvius National Park was officially designated on June, 5, 1995, to protect the last remaining active volcano in Europe. The park has nine nature trails. The shortest trail takes one hour to complete and the longest takes nine hours to complete. Mt. Vesuvius is the only active volcano in continental Europe and is also the most extensively studied volcano on Earth.
The current shape of the volcano is the result of the continual alternation between 'explosive' type eruptions and 'effusive' type eruptions. The highest point of Mt. Vesuvius reaches 1, 282 meters above sea level. The current crater has a diameter of 650 meters and a depth of 230 meters. At the base of the crater there are a number of eruptive openings which discharged many of the streams of lava from 1631 up until 1944, the year of the last eruption. Today there are small fumaroles on the Gran Cono of Mt. Vesuvius, a sign of its dormant state. |
| Mt. Vesuvius is only minutes from the center of Naples via Autostrada 3. There are signs along the way that help make it very easy to find. We actually found that we were able to drive quite a long distance up the volcano. But we also found that when it is time to walk, it not such an easy walk. The path leading to the crater is quite steep and takes about 25 minutes to climb. |
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