On the volcano's northern slope — Monte Somma's, the ancient crater — Somma Vesuviana holds two treasures you don't expect: the "Augustan villa", a monumental Roman residence excavated by University of Tokyo archaeologists and linked by scholarly tradition to the death of Augustus, and the Casamale, an Aragonese walled quarter of intact lanes.
Every four years, the Feast of the Lucerne lights the Casamale with geometries of small flames: an archaic night drawing photographers from across Europe. Among catalanesca vineyards and salt cod — this is Campania's stockfish capital — Vesuvius shows its peasant face.
Near Somma Vesuviana
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
