Geography Trips to Bay of Naples

Take a trip to the top of Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that dominates the skyline of the Amalfi Coast. You can walk to the top of the mountain, and see close up the volcano that erupted and buried Pompei almost 2000 years ago.

One of the most famous ancient sites in the world. Almost 2000 years ago Mount Vesuvius erupted covering Pompeii in ash, preserving life as it was 2000 years ago, and excavations are ongoing. Plaster cast was poured in the holes in the ash created by bodies, and the result is realistic models of the people buried by the ash.

The Phlegraean Fields is an area north of Naples made up of approximately 40 ancient volcanoes and is a landscape that abounds with steaming fumaroles and boiling mud. The Phlegraean Fields are also known for the excellent examples of Bradyism, or the rising or lowering of ground levels due to fluctuations in magma chambers below ground. As recently as the 1980s, the ground rose 1.8 meters in just a couple of years. Visit the Temple of Serapis in Pozzuoli, and Monte Nuovo, Europe's youngest Volcano.

The eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD buried this town in an airtight layer of solidified volcanic mud, unlike the volcanic ash of Pompeii which took a while to settle and become compressed. Excavations have revealed the ancient town, and have revealed facts such as diet, clothing and furniture.

A spa town in the centre of the Phlegrean Fields west of Naples. An area of bubbling volcanic activity, the town of Pozzuoli has the remains of Roman market places and an amphitheatre which was the third largest in the ancient world. Here exotic animals were shipped in to the towns port and used in contests.

Ischia is an island of volcanic origins in Italy's Campania region, at the northern end of the Bay of Naples. The island is easily reached by ferries and hydrofoils from Naples and is part of a large volcanic area that was very active in the distant past, and its rocks and mountains bear witness to their volcanic formation.