Radium and other trace element (i.e. Cs, Rb, Ba, Sr, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, La, Lu, Nd, Sm, Y, Sn) partition coefficients have been experimentally determined at atmospheric pressure for leucite in equilibrium with a phonolitic melt. Ra bulk concentrations of ∼ 0.25 ppm are sufficient for precise LA-ICP-MS measurements of Ra in leucite and melt. Partition coefficients increase for the alkalis from Rb to Cs, and for the alkaline earths from Sr to Ba to Ra, with the maximum of both lattice strain parabolas at a radius of 1.89 ± 0.01 Å, i.e. near Cs and Ra. At 1190 °C, D_Ra^leucite/melt was determined to 2.3 ± 0.7 and 1.8 ± 0.5 for two different experiments, the average D_Ra/D_Ba is 4.2 ± 0.5. Hitherto, crystallization ages calculated from the isotopic ²²⁶Ra disequilibrium assumed that D_Ra equals D_Ba. The experimentally determined partition coefficients lead to an order of magnitude younger ²²⁶Ra crystallization ages for leucite. Employing our partitioning data in combination with the isotopic results from Black, S., Macdonald, R., DeVivo, B., Kilburn, R.J., Rolandi, G. U-series disequilibria in young (A.D. 1944) Vesuvius rocks: Preliminary implications for magma residence times and volatile addition. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 82, 97–111, leucite crystal ages from several phonothephrite lavas of the 1944 eruption of Vesuvius become undefined, testifying for a more complicated process than equilibrium leucite crystallization and subsequent undisturbed evolution of these lavas.