Pietra del Vesuvio, from Mt. Vesuvius, Naples, Campania, Italy
Geological description:
Brecciated meta-calcilutite, with brown limonitic veining, occasionally widening into calcite-limonite-opaque oxide aggregates. Some of the brown may be filler.
Comments:
Like nos. 623 to 630, this may well be another 'marble … ejected mass' from the 'Fossa Grande', a deep ravine on the flanks of Vesuvius. Small slabs of the various stones from Vesuvius were sold to 'grand tourists'. For example, when Jane and Mary Parminter returned to England in the 18th century, they had their souvenirs inlaid in a table-top, now to be seen at A La Ronde, a National Trust property in Devon, England.