Climbing Mount Vesuvius

Looming over the towns that surround the Bay of Naples, Mount Vesuvius appears to be an imposing force. As the only active volcano in the European continent, the Italians know the danger it poses but are willing to take the risk in order to utilize the fertile soil along its slopes. However, they did not always know that it used to be a volcano. Instead, before 79AD, most people thought that Vesuvius was simply a very high mountain. It did indeed appear so for it had a high pointed top. However, in 79AD, Vesuvius exploded, destroying its pointed top and famously covering Pompeii and Herculaneum in several feet of ash and magma. Overall only 2000 of 20,000 people in Pompeii died, but the city itself was devastated. Human remains, pottery, whole buildings, and art were preserved because of the magma that formed around it and carbonized. Faces writhing in pain and fear are viewable at Pompeii. The last major eruption occurred in 1944.

During my visit last weekend to Napoli, Pompeii, and Sorrento, I had the opportunity to climb Mount Vesuvius. Since its slopes are steep, the roads that lead to the Vesuvius National Park are twisting and winding ones that overlook drops of 360 degrees at any given s-curve. Loaded tightly into a van with about nine others, we ascended these free-inspiring roads. Our driver was cheerful though and paused at the points that offered the best view over the towns, mountains, and bay below.

When I finally reached the top, I climbed even higher along the trails, stumbling on maroon volcanic dirt and rock through the Vesuvius National Park.

The only barrier between myself and a long fall was a wooden fence that appeared as though it had just been raised yesterday. I thought that all of the walking that I had been doing around Rome had gotten me into better shape but I was wrong. I huffed and puffed my way up the long trail and finally reached the top.

The view into the volcano was as spectacular as the view over the land below. I was over 4000 feet above sea level. As I gazed into the core of the volcano, the air smelled slightly of sulfur. Meanwhile the walls of the volcano smoked because of the gases and heat within. Very little vegetation existed within it. The lava, I was told, bubbled layers beneath the surface for the time being. What I could see of the lava were its remnants; along the wall of the core of Vesuvius, the two dark lines were visible marking the points that the lava had reached during the last two explosions.

It was only slightly frightening to be up that high on an active volcano that could have exploded at any moment. However as I learned, many scientists monitored the volcano’s activity. Either their machines would get set off or we would have experienced major earthquakes if Vesuvius was about to explode. Still, I like to think that I was at least in some danger!