Turning further to the right and looking straight down Via Carbonara we can see a significant landmark that sits just beyond the city. When I say "just beyond", it's about 14 km away from where I am.

That is of course, the active volcano Mount Vesuvius. The one which blew away Pompeii all those years ago. For the record, Pompeii is about 10 km from the crater of Mount Vesuvius. If Vesuvius had blown while we were there we'd at least have a 4 km head start for all the good it would do.

It probably says something of our urban lifestyle (and possibly the geological stability of Australia) that when I first looked at that I thought "oh, a medium-sized mountain". I had to remind myself of what I was actually looking at, notwithstanding that I know the history rather well. Nonetheless, even now it's hard to imagine what happened just down there in 79 A.D.

In fact Vesuvius has erupted on a regular basis over the centuries. Accurate records are hard to come by for the dark ages, but we know that there were at least 6 eruptions in the 18th century, 8 eruptions in the 19th and 3 in the 20th century, with the last one being in 1944 though none of these were anything like as destructive as the one which wiped out Pompeii.

To be on the safe side, the government is trying to reduce the population living in the riskiest zones. This is why there is a very significant national park in the area.

I wouldn't mind climbing the mountain one day. Whether I get the opportunity to is an entirely different thing.