The cross vault is a type of architectural covering formed by the orthogonal intersection of two barrel vaults, i.e. two semi-cylinders cut longitudinally....

The capital is the upper element of a column with a decorative function. It therefore serves as an interlude between the curved surface of the column and the rectilinear surface of the architrave above. ...

Saint Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Christ also known in the Gospel of John as Nathaniel, a native of Cana, who died around the middle of the 1st century, probably in Syria. It is assumed that the name Bartholomew derives from the Aramaic “bar” meaning son, and “talmai” meani...

In the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus wrote that at the time of the fiftieth Olympics, celebrated in 580-576 BC, a group of Greeks left from Rhodes and Cnidus and under the command of Pentathlus of Cnidus, sailed for Sicily. In the 5th century BC, Thucydides wrote that the islands of Aeolus were ...

Homer tells us in the Odyssey that Ulysses, after landing with his companions in the land of the Cyclops, docked at Aeolia, surrounded by high cliffs and bronze walls, perhaps the Castle of Lipari. Here lived Aeolus, keeper of the winds, along with his wife and children. Aeolus hosted Ulysses and hi...

A lava dome is a structure composed of extremely viscous lava with a typical dome shape. They form because of the high viscosity of the lava which, leaving the ground at relatively low temperatures of 600/800 °C, is therefore nearly all already solidified and cannot flow. For this reason the ...

“Bread-crust” bombs are the typical eruption material of vulcanian activity. They are formed of a compact and intensely fractured outer “crust” and a spongy inner portion visible only inside the fractures. The resemblance to bread crust is often surprising and even the method of formation i...

The volcanic crater is usually a circular depression with a diameter of a few hundred metres, located on top of a volcanic structure. It is the place from which lava and pyroclastic products from the explosions during volcano activity come out. When the activity ends, the crater can be filled by the...

In hydrogeology, an aquifer or groundwater reserve is defined as an area of permeable rocks where water is able to flow due to the effect of gravity. The word aquifer, which comes from the German word falte meaning fold, indicates a water deposit between the layers or folds of the ground. ...

It is often said that if inhaled, the volcanic gases from fumaroles are good for you. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fumarole gases contain water, chlorine, sulphur, fluorine and carbon dioxide which, if inhaled for prolonged periods, are highly toxic to humans. Therefore, we must not conf...