For the ancient Greeks, Hephaestus was the god of volcanoes. Hephaestus was a builder and architect, goldsmith and gunsmith, blacksmith and inventor of mechanical objects. He forged the weapons of two great heroes, Heracles and Achilles. His workshop, instead of being together with the other Gods...

Fumaroles are characteristic of active volcanic areas, and are merely smoke escaping from fractures or holes in the ground. They often follow the circular shape of the crater, or may come from within it. This cloud of gas is composed almost entirely of water vapour, which carries with it some other...

In volcanology the term caldera means a large circular or elliptical basin or depression, often occupied by a lake. The caldera is normally formed after a very violent eruption in which the magma chamber of the volcano is emptied and its roof collapses due to the void created: this collapse on th...

Alum, the salt sweated from the earth and very useful for dyeing wool and cleaning gold, has been a source of wealth for the Aeolian Islands since ancient times. Alum mining had already been practised by the Romans who, in amphorae produced in Lipari where the factory was found, transported not onl...

The name of this wine comes from Monemvasia, a Greek town in the southern Peloponnese. According to other versions, the term instead derives from Malta, where the production originally began. The Romans transported the Malvasia in amphorae to the capital, where the emperors were fond of it. In the...

The Punic Wars were three wars fought between Rome and Carthage between 2300 and 2200 years ago. The wars were won by Rome, which dominated the Mediterranean Sea thereafter. They are known as Punic because the Romans called the Carthaginians Punics. Punic is actually a shift in the word Phoenicia...

Obsidian is a volcanic glass resulting from the near complete cooling of gas-less and therefore very viscous lava. As soon as it leaves the crater, the lava cools rapidly, which does not allow the various atoms to crystallise properly, forming a glass-like structure. Obsidian is a natural glass, v...

Underwater volcanoes are volcanic structures that have failed to emerge above sea level, often because their eruptive activity ended before they reached the required height. They stand at least 1,000 metres above the seabed. It is estimated that there are around 30,000 underwater volcanoes on our ...

A volcanic structure is nothing more than the volcano itself, formed by the overlapping of lava flows and pyroclasts. It is generally conical in shape, but it can change a lot depending on the chemical composition of the magma of the specific volcano....

The term pyroclast indicates any granule produced by volcanic activity during an explosive eruption. Pyroclasts are divided into: Bombs: if they are greater than 6.4 cm in diameter; Lapilli: if they are between 0.2 and 6.4 cm in diameter; Ash: if they are smaller than 0.2 cm in diameter....