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which descended on the slope of the mountain, made no
great progress, but on the side, where the southern borders
of the Volcano, were shelter'd by the rocky circuit of Mount
Somma, a horrid inundation of fire covered all the bottom
of the plain, which we call the valley of Atria.²0
Anonymous,
Torre del
Greco Devastated by the
Eruption of Vesuvius
,
1798, gouache.
Following the example of the people of Catania, when Etna
erupted in 1669, the local villagers took direct physical action
against the volcano:
The chief damage sustained arose from the burning cinders,
that set fire, to a large wood in the district of Ottaiano, which
would have been entirely consumed, if, by cutting down the
trees that lay in the way, a stop had not been put to the progress
of the flames.²¹
Such eruptions were shocking and life-changing, and during
the eighteenth century it must have appeared to residents that
