Ciampate del Diavolo is the name of a locality near Roccamonfina

Roccamonfina

Roccamonfina is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 60 km northwest of Naples and about 40 km northwest of Caserta....

 (northern Campania

Campania

Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

), in the neighbourhood of an extinct volcano

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

 with the same name. It takes its name from several human fossil footprints

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

.

Local tradition attributed the prints to the Devil, since it was deemed the sole creature capable of walking on lava without harm. The footprints were in fact made in volcanic ash by a bipedal hominid

Hominidae

The Hominidae or include them .), as the term is used here, form a taxonomic family, including four extant genera: chimpanzees , gorillas , humans , and orangutans ....

living in the area some 350,000 years ago. The footprints were left by individuals barely five feet (1.50 m) tall, who appear to have been running away from the volcano.