This paper focuses on the urban agglomeration that has been growing up on the western side of Vesuvius, a few kilometres from Naples. In view of the dimension of the agglomeration and of the spontaneous and unplanned way it has been growing, the purpose is to investigate the actual role that Vesuvius has gone assuming in the genesis of the area, affecting its urban self-organization. This research applies space syntax to analyse the grid configuration of the settlement in order to discuss how Vesuvius has been interiorized in the spatial choices of the local communities. Three major results are expected from the findings: to examine the actual resilience of the whole agglomeration; to analyse the configurational state of the system in order to pinpoint possible actions for risk mitigation; to evaluate how risk from natural hazard is spontaneously mitigated in self-organized urban spaces.
Keywords: Vesuvius; configurational analysis; natural hazards