Burning Fields

Burning Fields

We toured around Campi Flegrei (Burning Fields), west of Napoli. The earth’s crust is very thin in this area. The heated earth crust becomes soft, easy to move up and down from the change of pressure underneath.

We hiked a hill Monte Nouvo (New Mountain). It is indeed quite new, formed in 1538. In one or two days, the landscape rose about 130 meters. Then the middle sank back, forming a crater, or a wok. I guess the outside cooled down quickly and solidified. The internal is hotter. When gas and small amounts of ash were released, the hot and soft middle collapsed back, really deep. So a crater can form without a major eruption. It was amazing walking along the rim.

Not far away from Monte Nouvo, it is Lake Averno. In Greek myth, it is the entrance to hell, because of its sulfur smell. It is a volcanic crater. When we arrived there, it was late and we were pretty tired. We didn’t stay long. But we did notice that the hill around the lake forms a cauldron as well.

Campi Flegrei is a large area. Most of the high places are around the edge of the region, such as seaside. The whole Campi Flegrei is a giant leaky wok. We stayed at Monte di Procida, a seaside town. Where we stayed is near a seaside cliff. The drive toward inland is a steep descent.

Land may rise and fall often. A large town in Campi Flegrei is Pozzuoli. It was once the largest trading port in Ancient Rome. In 1830, Charles Lyell, one of the founders of geology, wrote about his visit to Pozzuoli. He found some shellfish marks on the columns in an early Roman market. This suggested to him that the land was once submerged in the ocean and rose again later. This showed that the land can move significantly in a relatively short period of time. That was the origin of modern geology. 

Pozzuoli was so prominent in Ancient Rome that it had the third largest amphitheater that can sit 40,000 people. Rome amphitheater, the largest one in Ancient Rome, is crowded with visitors. But there are almost no one here. Amphitheater housed gladiators fighting. I checked with Gemini. It said that contrary to popular conception, gladiators fighting rarely ended with death. Gladiators are so expensive to train. It simply doesn’t make sense to get one killed in each fight. Gladiators are like boxers, or MMA fighters today. Does it make sense that in each fight, one boxer has to die? 

We also visited a castle nearby (Castello Aragonese di Baia). It is a giant castle. When we arrived, we were the first and only visitors. I noticed the ticketing system. It was meant for entry every half hour block. The system is designed for heavy crowds. Yet we were the lone visitors wandering around the gigantic building. The view is absolutely stunning. There is also a large museum of Greek and Rome collection, with many doors open and no staff watching. This is the least guarded museum I have ever been. There is simply too many Greek and Rome ruins around.