Mt. Vesuvius - Naples, Italy

Mount Vesuvius (Vesuvio) rises over the rooftops of Portici, on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy, and this camera looks straight up at the volcano's broad slopes from one of the crowded towns that sit right at its foot.

In AD 79, Vesuvius buried the Roman towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae under ash and rock, killing more than 1,000 people. Its summit stands 4,203 feet (1,281 m) high, just 5.6 miles (9 km) east of Naples.

It's the only volcano on mainland Europe to have erupted in the last hundred years, most recently in March 1944. Around 3 million people live close enough to be affected by an eruption, so it's watched constantly, and the area became a national park in 1995.

Did You Know? The 1944 eruption rained hot ash on a nearby airfield and destroyed between 78 and 88 American B-25 bombers.

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