How much does the visit to the mt. Vesuvius crater cost?
Ticket: € 10
Reduced Ticket: € 8 (under 25 years old; people living in one of the 13 municipalities of the Vesuvius National Park)
BIGLIETTO GRAUITO: Info qui: Vesuvius National Park
Great Cone Opening hours :
- January, February, November and December: 9.00 - 15.00
- March and October: 9.00 - 19.00
- April, May, Thursday and September: 9.00 - 17.00
- July and August: 9.00 - 18.00
Contacts: +39 081.239.56.53
Website and ticket purchase: Vesuviopark Vivaticket
Mt. Vesuvius, how to reach the Crater with public transport
From Naples or Sorrento by Train:
Take the Circumvesuviana and get off at Ercolano Scavi or Pompei Scavi.
Then take one of the shuttles towards to the Great Cone.
How to reach the crater of Vesuvius by car
click on the photo to reach the pazzale quota 1000 where you can park your car.
Mt. Vesuvius and the Plinian eruption
Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD destroyed the city of Pompeii, Ercolnao, Stabia and Oplontis with a volcanic phenomenon that lasted 25 hours.
We know the date and details because it was found a lecter wrote by a roman magistrate (Plinio the younger), addressed to the Senator Publius Cornelius Tacitus. That's the way the phenomenon is colled Plinian eruption.
The eruption started from a caldera located in the lower part of the volcano. That's why the inhabitants were caught off guard: they didn't think that it was dangerous.
All the Pompeii's streets was submerged by a rain of ash and lapillus. So all escape routes was gone.
In Herculaneum there was a different situation: the wind carried hot gases, ashes and water vapor, so the people died instantly. The city was submerged by a rain of ash and lapillus that arranged a layer of more than 10 meters.
L' eruzione Pliniana, con i suoi materiali piroclastici, ricoprì le città di circa dieci metri and later, over the centuries, there have been other eruptions of Vesuvius, so the cities was buried more and more, reaching a level of about twenty meters.
The archaeological excavations in Herculaneum begun in 1738, while those of Pompeii begun in 1748. Both excavation are wanted by Charles of Bourbon King of Naples and King of Sicily. The discoveries found during excavations are exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.
Mt. Vesuvius volcano and other eruptions
Afterwards there were others 3 eruptions: in 472, in 1036 (that was the first phenomena with an eruption during which magma is emitted in the form of lava flows and the coast increased about 600 meters), in 1500, in 1631, in 1906 and the last one in 1944.