Monte Vulture

The Vulture from the southeast

The Monte Vulture or the Vulture massif is the massif of an extinct volcano in the northern Italian province of Potenza, about 45 km north of the city of Potenza. It covers an area of about 27 km ², making it comparable in size to Mount Vesuvius and the Roccamonfina massif. The heights of the Vulture is forested and thus form a striking, dark landmark that towers over the surrounding hills dominant. The mountain is also the namesake of the wine-growing region Vulture, which produces the wine Aglianico del Vulture DOC.

Height

The highest summit of Vulture massif forms the actual Monte Vulture with 1326 m, a second south of this is the San Michele with 1262 m height. In the caldera, Valle dei Grigi located on 656 m height the Laghi di Monticchio two electrodes separated by a land bridge Maare, the smaller, the Lago Piccolo di Monticchio, as Riserva naturale is regional, protected as a regional nature reserve.

History

The earliest explosive eruptions of the volcano date back about a million years ago and have ignimbrite generated. About 830,000 years ago, ended these eruptions and dodged a mixture pyroclastic eruptions and effusions, which lasted until about 500,000 years ago. One explanation for the origin of the Valle dei Grigi is the suspected burglary around the western flank of the volcano, similar to the Mount St. Helens was the case in 1980. The last phase of further lava flows, the development of Lavadomen, Phreatomagmatischer explosions that formed the two maars, is dated to around 40,000 BC.

Colonization

The caldera of the crater forms a recreational area. In the mountain wall above the Lago Piccolo, the Abbazia di San Michele rises, an abbey, which was founded in the 8th century and was expanded in the 11th and 12th centuries to a monastery with a cave church. The ruins of another monastery church Sant'Ippolito, which was abandoned after an earthquake in 1456, are located between the two lakes. The Caldera area with the place Monticchio Laghi belongs to the municipality of about 13,000 inhabitants Rionero in Vulture, whose main town extends on the eastern slope of the mountain. The village of Sant'Andrea on a southern spur of the mountain belongs to the southeastern municipality Atella, which has about 4,000 inhabitants.

  • The Maare ( Laghi di Monticchio )
  • Abbazia San Michele
  • The interior of the Abbey Church
Italy Apennine Mountains Vulture (region) Effusive eruption Lava dome
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