From Naples, along the ancient road Reggia di Portici known as the Golden Mile Road, there is Herculaneum, which is the first gateway to the Vesuvius National Park.
The ridges of the volcano can be explored with the help of expert guides through a network of paths allowing to appreciate an infinite number of arboreal and floral species of the Mediterranean scrub (900 native species), but also the lava flows stratified in the time, following the eruptions, starting from that of 79’, described by Pliny, who buried Herculaneum and Pompeii, to those of 1631, 1737, 1794, 1822, 1906 until the last one in 1944. Thanks to the tangible signs of those flows (the lava stone), along the road that leads to the crater, since 2005 Vesuvius has been transformed into an open-air museum not only for the beautiful landscape and for the formidable historical and mythological references, but also because of the hairpin bends leading to the Gran Cono (1282 meters above sea level with a diameter of 700 meters, 230 deep) hosting gigantic sculptures by ten great artists, highly regarded on the international scene, who worked with skill and inventiveness that very lava stone. A permanent exhibition of Vesuvian volcanic lava which is also a paradigm of the wisdom of doing. "The creativity of the artists has found a perfect symbiosis, much more than a collaboration, in the Vesuvian stonecutters, stone-cutting artists and connoisseurs of the internal energies that each piece of stone carries with it", as Jean-Noël Schifano wrote in outlining the characteristics of this unique project in the world.
One of the most characteristic places in Herculaneum is the Resina market, among artisan shops and second-hand clothing stores: it’s among the largest in Italy. On Corso Resina you will find some of the most beautiful villas of the Golden Mile, the aristocratic residences built in the 18th century: a total of 122 are listed between San Giovanni a Teduccio and Torre del Greco. Among these, one of the most famous is Villa Campolieto.
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