"In Greek and Roman mythology, the Campi Flegrei volcano is depicted as the opening to the underworld. Its prehistoric eruptions blocked out the sun, turning summer into winter and covering Europe and Russia in thick volcanic ash. Now this powerful seismic giant near Naples is stirring again, shaking the ground in a way that scientists say it hasn't for centuries."
"For everyone to survive an eruption, over half a million people would have to be evacuated from an area that Italian authorities have marked the "red zone" around the Campi Flegrei's eight-mile wide crater. Here, Macedonio says, "there really are no countermeasures to protect yourself" from the pyroclastic flow of volcanic particles and ash super-heated to some 1,472 degrees Fahrenheit that would cover terrain at a speed between 30 and 60 miles per hour."
Campi Flegrei, a volcanic caldera near Naples, has a mythic reputation as the underworld entrance and produced prehistoric eruptions that darkened summers and blanketed Europe and Russia in ash. Recent seismic unrest has produced the strongest earthquakes recorded at the site in centuries, causing evacuations and rendering some homes uninhabitable. Italian authorities designate an eight-mile wide crater and a "red zone" requiring evacuation of over half a million people during an eruption. Pyroclastic flows and ash, superheated to about 1,472°F and traveling 30–60 mph, pose unsurvivable hazards and roof-collapse risk from heavy ashfall. Civil protection maintains direct, twice-daily tested communication with the Naples observatory.
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