The greatest destruction in recent years occurred in April 1906, when several towns were destroyed. In the eruption of March 1944, which destroyed the village of San Sebastiano, soldiers of the Allied armies helped the people of nearby towns escape the lava and volcanic dust. Before the eruption of 1944, thousands of visitors came to Vesuvius every year. They could go down into the crater for some distance and see a crimson stream of lava flow from the cone and turn into a bed of cold stone. A cable railway that took visitors to within 450 feet of the edge of the crater was destroyed in this eruption.
Many people still visit the area.
A Royal Observatory was established on the slopes of the mountain in 1844. Since that time scientists have kept a constant watch over the volcano during and between eruptions. One observer lost his life standing by his post.