🌋The Mystery Volcano That Doomed Medieval Europe. A volcano no one has ever found may have triggered the blackest chapter in European history. In 1345 a massive eruption darkened the sky, collapsed harvests and pushed Italy toward famine. Venice, Genoa and Pisa sailed into the only region with surplus grain. They returned with fleas carrying Yersinia pestis hidden in the dust of their cargo. Every port that received Black Sea grain became an early epicenter of the Black Death. Cities that avoid