In what year did Mount Vesuvius last erupt?

Mount Vesuvius last erupted in 1944. The eruption began in March during the final months of World War II, when Allied forces were fighting in southern Italy, and it remains the volcano’s most recent confirmed eruption.

The activity included lava flows, ash and explosions that damaged nearby communities and infrastructure. The eruption also affected the Allied air base at Pompeii, where many aircraft were damaged or destroyed by falling volcanic material. Villages on Vesuvius’s slopes suffered destruction, and the event caused deaths, injuries and evacuations.

The year is often confused with the much more famous eruption of AD 79, which buried Pompeii and Herculaneum and was described by Pliny the Younger. That earlier disaster explains Vesuvius’s historical importance, but it was not the latest eruption. Since 1944, the volcano has remained dormant rather than permanently extinct: fumarolic activity and seismic monitoring continue, and scientists regard future eruption risk as an ongoing concern.