  The MUon RAdiography of VESuvius (MURAVES) project aims at the study of Mt.
Vesuvius, an active and hazardous volcano near Naples, Italy, with the use of
muons freely and abundantly produced by cosmic rays. In particular, the MURAVES
experiment intends to perform muographic imaging of the internal structure of
the summit of Mt. Vesuvius. The challenging measurement of the rock density
distribution in its summit by muography, in conjunction with data from other
geophysical techniques, can help model possible eruption dynamics. The MURAVES
apparatus consists of an array of three independent and identical muon
trackers, with a total sensitive area of 3 square meters. In each tracker, a
sequence of 4 XY tracking planes made of plastic scintillators is complemented
by a 60 cm thick lead wall inserted between the two downstream planes to
improve rejection of background from low energy muons. The apparatus is
currently acquiring data. This paper presents preliminary results from the
analysis of the first data samples acquired with trackers pointing towards Mt.
Vesuvius, including the first relative measurement of the density projection of
two flanks of the volcano at three different altitudes; we also present the
workflow of the simulation chain of the MURAVES experiment and its ongoing
developments.
