Vesuvius woke up in Italy. In Naples, which is in direct proximity to the volcano, a large-scale evacuation is underway. Residents of five urban areas, as well as tourists, had to literally flee.
Vesuvius threw a column of smoke and red-hot ash into the sky and set fire to the forest located on its slopes, reports "Russia 24".
Firefighters are trying to prevent the spread of the fire, but they cannot completely extinguish the flame: the grass and dead trees continue to set fire to the volcano.
Meanwhile, according to Corriere della Sera, the authorities do not exclude that arson may be the cause of forest fires. So, in 2016, 200 hectares of forest burned down on the slopes "without the intervention of a volcano."
Climbing Mount Vesuvius is a popular tourist route: a bus takes you up to 1000 meters above sea level, then you have to walk about 200 meters. The crater itself (while sleeping) is nothing interesting, but from the top there is a stunning view of Naples and the bay.
In 79 AD, the eruption of Vesuvius led to the destruction of three cities - Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia. The harbinger of the eruption was a strong earthquake, described in the Annals of Tacitus and the Letters of Pliny the Younger. The city of Pompeii is now an open-air museum.
