--- description: Exactly 70 years ago, in March 1944, British photographer George Rodger captured the last great eruption of Italy's legendary volcano. title: Mount Vesuvius: Photos From the Legendary Volcano's 1944 Eruption image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d7916bbb0a71507/698849948e06019c1c45fc6d/01_00600200.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mount Vesuvius: Photos From the Volcano's Last Great Eruption by [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 17, 2014 12:33 AM CUT  Not published in LIFE. Troops watch the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Italy, 1944. Not published in LIFE. Troops watch the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Italy, 1944.George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 17, 2014 12:33 AM CUT The most storied volcano on earth, Italy’s [Mount Vesuvius](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount%5FVesuvius "undefined") looms above the Gulf of Naples like an unpredictable god. The story of the mountain’s 79 AD eruption that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum — burying those two ancient towns in scalding rock and ash — has been depicted so many times in art and literature that it has assumed the feel of myth. But for the thousands killed in that most famous of all volcanic cataclysms, the unfathomably awful, sudden end of their world was too real. Vesuvius has erupted dozens of times in the centuries since Pompeii and [Herculaneum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum "undefined") were nearly erased from history, sometimes killing thousands (as in 1631), at other times destroying homes and even whole villages but leaving no one dead in its wake. The last major eruption happened 70 years ago, in the midst of World War II, and was photographed by the great British photographer and [Magnum](http://www.magnumphotos.com/ "undefined") founding member, George Rodger. As LIFE noted to its readers in the April 17, 1944, issue of the magazine, the eruption “has compounded the complexities of fighting a war and of merely existing in southern Italy. Beginning on March 18 and still continuing , the eruption has given the Allied Military Government several thousand more refugees to look after and brightened the night horizon as far north as [Anzio beachhead.”](http://life.time.com/history/anzio-unpublished-photos-italian-campaign-world-war-ii/#1 "undefined") But LIFE also quoted the director of the Mt. Vesuvius Observatory, Professor Giuseppe Imbo, who offered a refreshingly sanguine take on the Neapolitan people’s relationship with the great, unpredictable volcano in their midst: “A marvelous thing, my Vesuvius,” the professor enthused. “It covers land with precious ash that makes the earth fertile and grapes grow, and wine. That’s why, after every eruption, people rebuild their homes on the slopes of the volcano. That is why they call the slopes of Vesuvius the _compania felix_ — the happy land.”  Not published in LIFE. Troops watch the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Italy, 1944. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Troops in a bell tower during the 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Priest and children during the 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Civilians move furniture during the 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watching the 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Children, Italy, 1944. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Nighttime view of Mount Vesuvius, 1944. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Refugees make their way through ash and dust during the 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. People make their way through ash and dust during the 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Street scene, Italy, 1944, at time of Mount Vesuvius' last major eruption. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  The 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Scene in nearby town during the 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. George Rodger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3879372/mount-vesuvius-volcano-photos-from-1944-eruption/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3879372/mount-vesuvius-volcano-photos-from-1944-eruption/"},"headline":"Mount Vesuvius: Photos From the Volcano's Last Great Eruption","datePublished":"2014-03-17T00:33:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:45.420Z","description":"The last major eruption of Vesuvius happened exactly 70 years ago, in the midst of World War II — and was photographed by the great British photographer and Magnum founder member, George Rodger.","url":"https://time.com/3879372/mount-vesuvius-volcano-photos-from-1944-eruption/","keywords":["Italy","Volcano","World War II","Ben Cosgrove","Liz Ronk","1944"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d7916bbb0a71507/698849948e06019c1c45fc6d/01_00600200.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d7916bbb0a71507/698849948e06019c1c45fc6d/01_00600200.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mount Vesuvius 1944","caption":"Troops watch the eruption of Mt. 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