Monte Nuovo — "New Mountain" — is a cinder cone volcano just west of Pozzuoli that rose from the flat ground in a catastrophic eruption in September 1538, the most recent volcanic eruption on the Italian mainland. In a week of intense activity, ash, pumice, and lava built a cone 133 metres high and 870 metres in diameter. The eruption destroyed the village of Tripergole and the ancient hot springs associated with it, and permanently changed the local coastline.
Today the cone is a nature reserve with a walking path to the rim, giving excellent views into the crater and over the Campi Flegrei towards Naples. The crater interior is green and quiet — an oak forest has grown up inside in the five centuries since the eruption. The walk up and around the rim takes about an hour and offers clear views of the volcanic landscape that surrounds Pozzuoli on all sides.