Mount Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius (/vᵻˈsuːviəs/; Italian: Monte Vesuvio [ˈmonte veˈzuːvjo], Latin: Mons Vesuvius [mõːs wɛˈsʊwɪ.ʊs]) is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure.

Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and several other settlements. That eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ash, and fumes to a height of 33 km (20.5 mi), spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing. An estimated 16,000 people died due to hydrothermal pyroclastic flows. The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus.

Vesuvio (train)

The Vesuvio was an express train in Italy, linking Milan and Naples. The train was named after Mount Vesuvius the vulcano near Naples.

History

The history of this train dates back as far as the 1930s when Italy completed their first high speed lines, the Diretissima, one between Bologna and Florence the other between Rome and Naples. Highspeed at that time meant 175 km/h and a new electric multiple unit, the Elettro Treno Rapido 200 (ETR 200), was developed with help of Turin university from 1934 until 1936. The ETR 200 was built by Breda in 1936 and entered service between Bologna and Naples in 1937, using the new lines and calling at Florence and Rome.

Rapido

After World War II the service was resumed and named Freccia del Vesuvio (Vesuvian arrow) in the fifties. The ETR 200 stock was re-fitted to ETR 220/230/240 in the beginning of the 1960s provided with a fourth coach. The 1960 Olympics brought the ETR 250 and the Vesuvio was operated with ETR 220 and ETR 250 EMUs until the replacement by TEE Vesuvio.

Neapolitan ship Vesuvio (1824)

Vesuvio was a sailing ship of the Real Marina of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, later acquired as a frigate by the Italian Royal Navy. She was initially a French Bucentaure class ship of the line whose construction began in August 1812, but the works stalled and the ship was transferred to the Kingdom of Naples in 1813.

Construction

Built in 1812-1825 in Castellammare di Stabia's shipyard for the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the ship was originally a French ship of the line of the Bucentaure class, ceded to the Kingdom of Naples in December 1813. She was heavily armed with 87 guns on three decks, with two batteries covered and one uncovered: 63 smoothbore guns of 24 pounds, 4 smoothbore Paixhans howitzers of 80 pounds, 4 smoothbore howitzers of 30 pounds and 16 24-pounder smoothbore carronades. The hull was built in wood with copper-coated hull, the ship had three masts for square sails. The ship was the first to be launched by Castellamare's shipyard in the presence of the Duke of Calabria and Prince of Salerno, heir of the Kingdom.