The Solfatara

A live volcanic crater filled with steaming, bubbling, sulfurous volcanic attractions...and a campground?

Visiting the smoking crater of Solfatara volcanoJust a 20-minute walk above Pozzuoli is the most active evidence of the volcanism that plagues this region, the elliptical caldera of the Volcano of Solfatara (tel. +39-081-526-2341, www.solfatara.it).

The Solfatara Caldera

Though it hasn't actually erupted since AD 1198, the parched, alien landscape of bubbling mud pits and fumaroles furiously venting 320°F steam rife with the stench of sulfur remind intrepid visitors that molten lava still runs just under the ground surface here (which is always unseasonably warm).

An array of monitoring stations and frequent samples of the gases are taken to try and keep track of what's going on under the surface, the scientists nervously keeping an eye out for signs of increased volcanic activity.

This has been a roadside attraction near Naples since at least the times of the Roman historian Strabo (66BC to AD 24), who described a visit here.

Even its modern incarnation as a tourism site has been going strong since 1900—though you can no longer bathe in the burbling mud pits, mineral springs, or have a sweat in the grottoes, as did everyone from the ancients to the Crusaders to the Grand Tourists of the 18th and 19th centuries..

A guide will take you around the site. They sometimes hold a lighter to one of the vents issuing poisonous gasses to prove how flammable the whole place is.

The Solfatara site is open daily 8:30am to 7pm (to 4:30pm Nov–Mar). (Adm)

The Campsite—Good for snacks or an odd, smelly overnight stay

If you can stand the latent smell of sulphur, and have faith in the kindness of the volcano gods, you may even want to spend the night sleeping directly on top of this glowering volcanic field at Camping Solfatara (tel. +39-081-526-7413; www.solfatara.it/camping), one of the most oddly-sited campgrounds in Europe.

It sits inside the volcano itself, in a shady, tree-filled, WiFi– and swimming pool–equipped corner of the Solfatara (the campground's little grocery and restaurant serving park visitors as well as tent-toting guests).

The campground features tent sites, camper sites, and bungalows; it's open year-round.

Monte Nuovo

Earthquakes have regularly shaken the region, and on the coast between Pozzuoli and Baia. During an eruption in 1538, the 462-foot Monte Nuovo grew overnight (the night of Sept 29–30, to be exact), forming the youngest mountain in Europe—and swallowing the nearby lakeside village of Tripergole into oblivion.

Monte Nuovo is now protected as a natural oasis (tel. +39-081-804-1462, www.oasimontenuovo.it). Admission is free and it is open Mon–Sat 9am to one hour before sunset, Sun 9am–1pm.

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