L'ultimo giorno di Pompei ("The last day of Pompeii") is an opera (dramma per musica) in two acts composed by Giovanni Pacini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola.

It premiered to great success at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 19 November 1825 followed by productions in the major opera houses of Italy, Austria, France, and Portugal.

When Pacini's popularity declined in the mid-19th century, the opera was all but forgotten until 1996 when it received its first performance in modern times at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca.

L'ultimo giorno di Pompei influenced either directly or indirectly several other 19th-century works, most notably Karl Bryullov's 1833 painting, The Last Day of Pompeii.

However, the basic outline of the story and the idea of setting it in Pompeii at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD came from the Teatro San Carlo's resident scenographer, Antonio Niccolini.

[1] Although the setting and the English translation of its title are similar to that of Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Last Days of Pompeii, the opera predates the novel by almost 10 years and has a completely different plot.

The spectacular climax depicting the fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius was accompanied by a simulated earthquake and lightning as nine gauze curtains painted with clouds of ash and fire were raised one after the other to reveal the volcano.

When word had reached Paris of the 1827 La Scala production, which the Revue de théâtre described as representing the eruption of Vesuvius "with a frightful truth and a grandeur unthinkable in France," the French scenographer Pierre Cicéri travelled to Milan to study Sanquirico's designs and stage machinery.

The painting incorporates portraits of Pacini's young daughters, Amazilia and Giovannina, depicted as children sheltered in the arms of a Pompeian woman.

Amongst the many film and theatrical works based on Bulwer-Lytton's novel was Errico Petrella's opera Jone, ossia L'ultimo giorno di Pompei, which premiered in 1858 and remained in the repertory both in Italy and internationally until well into the 20th century.

As she is led into the tomb, accompanied by her faithful handmaidens, Ottavia turns to her husband one last time, swears her innocence, and entrusts their young son, Menenio, to his care.