A Bad Track Record
Mount Vesuvius is part of the Campanian volcanic arc, which is a hotspot running through Italy due to the convergence of the African and Eurasian plates. Due to a crack in that plate, Mount Vesuvius is more active than its neighboring volcanoes, which has had devastating consequences on the cities surrounding it.
Mount Vesuvius is hundreds of thousands of years old, and has erupted at least 50 times over the course of recorded history. The eruption that made it famous was in 79 A.D. because it was well recorded by Pliny the Younger, and Pliny the Elder died in it, but it has had other, slightly less dramatic eruptions. In 1944, during World War 2, it erupted, killing none but causing serious damage to machines and supplies in the area.
Mount Vesuvius is hundreds of thousands of years old, and has erupted at least 50 times over the course of recorded history. The eruption that made it famous was in 79 A.D. because it was well recorded by Pliny the Younger, and Pliny the Elder died in it, but it has had other, slightly less dramatic eruptions. In 1944, during World War 2, it erupted, killing none but causing serious damage to machines and supplies in the area.