ABOUT. The Pompeii excavation site is located about five miles from the base of Mount Vesuvius and is a short walk from the center of the small town of Pompeii, in south-central Italy. Now an UNESCO site, it was birthed in 79 A.D., when Mt. Vesuvius erupted and spewed a ferocious amount of ash and mud upon her base. The volcanic event ended with a pyroclastic surge that forced a 100 mile-per-hour spray of superheated poisonous gas into the air. These combined events complete