The Vesuvius Observatory () is the surveillance centre for monitoring the three volcanic areas of

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ) is a Somma volcano, somma–stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuv ...

, the Phlegrean Fields and Ischia. Founded in 1841 on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius by Ferdinand II of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies, it is the oldest

volcanology Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geology, geological, geophysical and geochemistry, geochemical phenomena (volcanism). The term ''volcanology'' is derived from the Latin language, Latin ...

institute in the world. Its current operative center is based in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, hosting an important section of the

National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (, INGV) is a research institute for geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surround ...

External links

Official Website
Volcano observatories Mount Vesuvius Buildings and structures in Campania 1841 establishments in Italy 1841 in science {{volcanology-stub