It was a relief to make it in one piece out of the crazy neapolitan traffic. I’ve seen some mad driving on my travels, and Naples’ is right up there with India and Madagascar. We took the coast road to dusty Ercolano and its ancient forebear Herculaneum.

Herculaneum was a lesser-known city destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. Smaller and wealthier than Pompeii, the coastal town was buried under 20 metres of lava, mud and ash. It lay untouched for more than 1600 years until it was discovered by workers digging a well in the 18th century, and much of the ancient city still lies beneath the modern.

The incredible thing about Herculaneum is the state of preservation of the city, in which 2-storey buildings remain intact in long rows, with tradesmen’s signs still legible on the walls. Walking down the main commercial street, it feels little different from wandering around Sorrento’s shops, though the windows are empty.

A few miles away at busy Pompeii, the huge, sunbaked site had a different feel, but was equally fascinating and shocking in its completeness. This was a true ghost town, frozen in time.

The petrified people preserved in the ash are forever cowering in a corner, holding hands and clinging to each other as they meet their fate. They were killed by pyroclastic surges; fast, horizontal blasts laden with ash and rock, that killed by heat or lack of oxygen.

After these incredible sites, the only thing left to do was to meet the beast eye to eye. Though most famous for its huge eruption in 79, Vesuvius is still considered an extremely dangerous volcano today, not least because of the significant population living within a few miles of it.

We climbed towards the summit in a fierce wind, lashing us with black volcanic sand. The sand path shifted as we walked, and strong gusts had us clinging to other tour members and climbing, half blind from the sandblasting, in a tight crocodile. No Disneyland volcano, this.

After the punishing climb, we peered cautiously into the smoking caldera at streaks of red and yellow mineral deposits and steam blasts.

Vesuvius grumbled, and we obediently slid back down.