Photo Courtesy: George Mason University - 19th Century Italian Gouache Collection

It was August 24th, 79 A.D., and what most likely began as just another day in the Roman Empire, ended as one of the most talked about events of all time. The unexpected and unpredictable two day long eruption of Mount Vesuvius resulted in a complete decimation of Pompeii and Herculaneum, its sister city.

Parts of Pompeii and Herculaneum remain standing as protected ruins. The volcano collapsed higher roof-lines and buried Pompeii under 60 feet of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with 2,571,725 visitors in 2007.

Today, Mount Vesuvius continues to stand in the Bay of Naples, just east of Naples, overlooking the lands below. It remains an active volcano, the only one on mainland Europe. It has erupted many times since 79 A.D., and is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards explosive (Plinian) eruptions. It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world. Mount Vesuvius was regarded by the Greeks and Romans as being sacred to the hero and demigod Heracles/Hercules, and the town of Herculaneum, built at its base, was named after him.

More Information

Everyone on Team Abbondanza has visited this site a few times. We’ve gathered many of our photographs and placed them in a special gallery for your viewing. See it via our new toolbar photogallery option, located at the bottom left of this page (Hint: It’s got an icon of a butterfly), or see it by visiting our Flickr photogallery.

Official Website: http://www.pompeiisites.org/