THE POLLENA ERUPTION (472 A.D.)

This eruption, subplinian in type, is recounted in the works by Marcellino Conte and Procopio di Cesarea, of the VI century A.D. Historical eyewitness accounts of the period report that the ash reached as far as Costantinople. Today the deposits attributed to this eruption can be seen to the north and northeast of the volcano up to a distance of approximately 30 km; at Ottaviano they reach a thickness of about 2 metres and over 15 metres in the region of Pollena Trocchia. In Naples too, on the archaeological site of S. Lorenzo, a compact deposit, dated Vth century, was probably originated by mud flows caused by this eruption.