The story of Mount Vesuvius

The volcano that destroyed Pompeii still towers over the Bay of Naples, about 9 km east of the city. In 79 AD its eruption buried the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae, throwing a cloud of stones, ash and gas 33 km into the sky. More than 1,000 people are thought to have died, though the exact toll is unknown.

The only surviving eyewitness account comes from two letters written by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. Violent explosive eruptions like this are still called 'Plinian' after him. Vesuvius has erupted many times since, and it is the only volcano on mainland Europe to have erupted in the last hundred years.

Because so many people live around it, it is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. The mountain you see is a large cone partly surrounded by the steep rim of an older, collapsed summit. Look at its cone and imagine the cloud of 79 AD.