MOUNT VESUVIUS

Mount Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the European mainland. It is located at the Bay of Naples in the south of Italy.
 

MOUNT VESUVIUS - MAP

Here's a map for those of you who like to have all the details:

VESUVIUS
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In AD 73, Spartacus and his men fled here after escaping gladiator school.

Pliny the Younger reported the earliest known eruption of mount Vesuvius. The year? AD 79. The cities of Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum were goners.
 

Mount Vesuvius looming over the ruins
of the ancient city of Pompeii.
Tony Wlatham—Robert Harding World Imagery/Getty Images.
Vesuvius, Mount. [Photograph]. Encyclopædia Britannica.

Many eruptions occurred over the years, another big one was in 1631.

MOUNT VESUVIUS FROM SPACE

Archaeologists had and are still having a blast exploring the volcano. One of them was William Hamilton.