Pozzuoli

Pozzuoli (pop.78,758 (2001)) is a large suburb of Naples, Italy. Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of Dicaerchia and was renamed Puteoli by the Romans. The city is located in the Phlegrean Fields volcanic area and has long suffered from volcanic and earthquake activity. From August 1982 to December 1984 the city experienced hundreds of tremors and bradyseismic activity which reached a peak on October 4, 1983 damaging 8,000 buildings in the city center and dislocating 36,000 people, many permanently. The events raised the sea bottom 6 feet and rendered the Bay of Pozzuoli too shallow for large craft. The actress Sophia Loren was born in Pozzuoli.