loading ...Campi Flegrei, also known as the Phlegraean Fields (from Greek φλÝγος, burning), is a large 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) wide caldera situated to the west of Naples, Italy. It was declared a regional park in 2003. Lying mostly underwater, the area comprises 24 craters and volcanic edifices. Hydrothermal activity can be observed at Lucrino, Agnano and the town of Pozzuoli. There are also effusive gaseous manifestations in the Solfatara crater, which is known as the mythological home of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan. The area also features bradyseismic phenomena, which are most evident at the temple of Serapis in Pozzuoli.
Wine
Italian wine, both red and white, under the Campi Flegrei DOC appellation comes from this area. Grapes destined for DOC production must be harvested up to a maximum yield of 12 tonnes/hectare for red grape varieties and 13 tonnes/ha for white grape varieties. The finished wines need to be fermented to a minimum alcohol level of 11.5% for reds and 10.5% for whites. While most Campi Flegrei wines are blends, varietal wines can be made from individual varieties provided the variety used comprises of at least 90% of the blend and the wine is fermented to at least 12% alcohol for reds and 11% for whites.
Red Campi Flegrei is a blend of 50-70% Piedirosso, 10-30% Aglianico and/or Sciascinoso and up to 10% of other local (both red and white) grape varieties. The whites are composed of 50-70% Falanghina, 10-30% Biancolella and/or Coda di Volpe with up to 30% of other local white grape varieties.
Cultural importance
Campi Flegrei has had strategical and cultural importance.
* The area was known to the Greeks, who had a colony nearby at Cumae.
* The beach of Miliscola, in Bacoli, was the Roman military academy headquarters.
* Lake Avernus was believed to be the entrance to the underworld, and is portrayed as such in the Aeneid of Virgil. During the civil war between Octavian and Antony, Agrippa tried to turn the lake into a military port, the Portus Julius.
* Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy (Magna Graecia) and is perhaps most famous as the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl.
* Baiae, now lying underwater, was a fashionable coastal resort and was the site of summer villas of Julius Caesar, Nero, and Hadrian (who died there).
* A Flavian Amphitheatre (Amphitheatrum Flavium), the third largest Italian amphitheatre after the Colosseum and the Capuan Amphitheatre.
* The Via Appia passed through the comune of Quarto, entirely built on an extinguished crater.
* Europe's youngest mountain,[10] Monte Nuovo is here. The WWF oasis lies beside the enormous Astroni crater.
* The tombs of Agrippina the Elder and Scipio Africanus are here as well.
* At Baiae, a Bacoli district the most ancient hot spring complex was built for the richest Romans. It included the largest ancient dome in the world before the construction of the Roman Pantheon.
* Patrick Moore used to cite Campi Flegrei as an example of why the impact craters on the Moon must be of volcanic origin, which was thought to be the case until the 1960s.
* A Campanian ignimbrite super-eruption around 40,000 years ago has been hypothesised as having contributed to the demise of the Neanderthal, based on evidence from Mezmaiskaya cave in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia
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