when did mt vesuvius erupt and destroy pompeii
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 Mount Vesuvius, a stratovolcano in modern-day Italy, erupted in 79 AD in one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history. Historians have learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet.[1] The event is the namesake for the Vesuvian type of volcanic eruptions.