Wildfire forces closure of Italy’s iconic Mount Vesuvius

The raging wildfire who devoured the Italy grounds has brought tourism to halt at Mount Vesuvius as all hiking routes up the volcano near Naples closed to tourists.

Although Italian firefighters have controlled the wildfire on the flanks of Mount Vesuvius, the area is not declared safe for the public.

According to the National Fire Services, 12 teams and 6 Canadair planes are working day and night to extinguish the flames that have torn through the national park in southern Italy.

The park possesses historical and tourist significance because it is situated where a volcanic eruption buried the ancient city of Pompeii in 79 A.D.

The Campania Region issued a statement, “The fire-fighting continues ceaselessly on three fronts.”

The fires are burning ferociously on the slopes of Mount Somma side of Vesuvius due to dense vegetation that surrounded the slopes.

Raffaele de Luca, the park’s head, commented that the charred area covered some 500 hectares or over 1235 acres.

“For safety reasons and to facilitate firefighting operations in burned areas, all the activities along the Vesuvius National Park trail are suspended until further notice,” the head issued a statement.

Around 620,000 tourists visited the crater of the volcano in 2024.