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The original volcano was probably destroyed by its eruption 79 A.D. when the streams of lava buried Pompeii and Herculaneum. At that time the
volcano claimed thousands of lives and turned the idyllic, overgrown slopes into sand and ashes within only a few hours. Today's Vesuv with its 1182m arose from this eruption. The Monte Somma (1132m) in the north is
probably a gigantic remnant of a volcano that developed in prehistoric times (25 000 years ago)
One can have a look at the single summitted Mount Vesuvius in the
National Archaeological Museum in Naples. on a wall painting by Pompeii with a description by Vergils.
In the past the Vesuvius always errupted again. In 1631 all
the settlements closeby the Vesuvius were destroyed. This is even more shocking when you call to mind that the settlements at the foot of the Vesuv are today again densely populated. It erupted again in 1794, 1906 and
1913. Between 1933 and 1944 the volcano activity eventually reached a new climax. Accompanied by numerous earthquakes the vulcano buried several houses and towns underneath more than 250 million cubic metre of
lava. Even the cable car, that became so well known through the folk song Funiculì, funiculà, at the slopes of the Vesuvius, fell victim to the lava then.
Nowadays the Vesuvius is a very popular tourist
attraction, even though know one knows when it will again awake from its sleep. New volcano erruptions can be predicted by volcanologists two weeks in advance.
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