Meet Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano and age-old resident of the Bay of Naples. The demise of Pompeii and Herculaneum is owed to Vesuvius' spontaneous eruption in 79 AD, leaving the population of these towns with little time to flee. Today, nearly 2000 years later, a thriving population still lives in Vesuvius' shadow, and the mountain draws tourists, hikers and geology enthusiasts alike from world over.