A small but fascinating, and on many accounts sobering, exhibition, entitled Alla scoperta del Vesuvio and promoted by the Protezione Civile, has opened in Complesso del Vittoriano. The exhibits range from 18th- and 19th-century gouaches of Vesuvius in various phases of eruption, a large acrylic painting by Andy Warhol, Vesuvio, quaint postcards from the early years of the 20th century with photos of eruptions and houses destroyed by the fury of the volcano, and also many panels describing the great eruptions of the past and photos of the crater. Highly disturbing are the aerial photos of the urbanization that has occurred on the slopes of the volcano over the last few decades, and the grim samples of lava and of the assorted lumps which rain down from the heavens in the course of an eruption. The so-called piccole bombe vulcaniche, the size of a fist, are bad enough, but the bomba vulcanica itself, a sinister black and about as big as a large football, is terrifying. The last major eruption was in 1631, when over 4000 people died; it was so violent that the crater declined in height by 450 m.