The volcano Vesuvius is 1281 metres high. It has erupted many times in the course of the centuries. The most famous eruption is the one of 79 a.C. which buried the famous towns of Pompei and Herculaneum.

Plinius the younger, a survivor, wrote about this eruption in the two famous letters to the historian Tacitus.

The last eruption occurred in 1944 and it was characteristic of abundant flows of lava.

From the top of the crater one can admire a beautiful sight of the bay of Naples, the three islands and the peninsula of Sorrento.

One can reach the crater from the town of Herculaneum and Torre del Greco as well.