Vesuvius — usually *Mount Vesuvius* — is the volcano that stands over the Bay of Naples in southwest Italy. Its famous moment came in AD 79, when it erupted and buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash and rock. That burial is why the name matters far beyond geography: the ash sealed the towns so completely that when they were dug up centuries later, archaeologists found streets, bread in ovens, and wall paintings still in place, giving us our clearest picture of daily Roman life. Vesuvius is not finished. It is still active, it has erupted many times since — the last in 1944 — and because around three million people now live within reach of it, volcanologists watch it constantly and call it one of the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth. In English the name is also used figuratively for a person or situation about to explode: "he sat there like Vesuvius, waiting." Being a proper name, it takes a capital V and no article — *Vesuvius*, or *Mount Vesuvius*, never *the Vesuvius*.