--- title: Supervolcano In Italy Threatens to Reawaken description: A volcanic area in Naples, Italy may be close to reawakening though scientists say there are no signs that it will erupt soon. canonical: https://time.com/4616433/supervolcano-naples-campi-flegrei/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-22T14:27:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T14:14:04.000Z article:section: Science og:title: A Once-Devastating Supervolcano Might Be Waking Up og:description: An eruption could wreak havoc on the lives of a million people in Naples og:url: https://time.com/4616433/supervolcano-naples-campi-flegrei/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5506f2e03034721f/6988b3cea988ca8eb46ba825/naples-volcano-eruption.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: naples volcano eruption og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Once-Devastating Supervolcano Might Be Waking Up twitter:description: An eruption could wreak havoc on the lives of a million people in Naples twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5506f2e03034721f/6988b3cea988ca8eb46ba825/naples-volcano-eruption.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Once-Devastating Supervolcano Might Be Waking Up  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 2:14 PM CUTPublished: Dec 22, 2016 2:27 PM CUT  The view from the window of an airplane, took off from Capodichino International Airport, the Gulf of Naples and Vesuvius The view from the window of an airplane, took off from Capodichino International Airport, the Gulf of Naples and Vesuviuslucamato—Getty Images/iStockphoto  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 2:14 PM CUTPublished: Dec 22, 2016 2:27 PM CUT A volcanic area in Naples, Italy may be close to reawakening, according to new [research](http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/ncomms13712 "undefined")—though scientists say there are no signs it will erupt soon. The study, published in the journal _Nature Communications_, shows gases at the Campi Flegrei volcanic area may have reached a pressure level that signals volcanic unrest, a phase that precedes an eruption. The volcano’s last major eruption in 1538 created the mountain known as Monte Nuovo, the [_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/12/21/a-supervolcano-caused-the-largest-eruption-in-european-history-now-its-stirring-again/ "undefined") reports. While predicting the precise timing of a volcanic eruption is beyond the ability of current science, an eruption at any time at Campi Flegrei would wreck havoc on the area’s million inhabitants. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4616433/supervolcano-naples-campi-flegrei/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4616433/supervolcano-naples-campi-flegrei/"},"headline":"A Once-Devastating Supervolcano Might Be Waking Up","datePublished":"2016-12-22T14:27:45.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T14:14:04.000Z","description":"An eruption could wreak havoc on the lives of a million people in Naples","url":"https://time.com/4616433/supervolcano-naples-campi-flegrei/","keywords":["geology","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5506f2e03034721f/6988b3cea988ca8eb46ba825/naples-volcano-eruption.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5506f2e03034721f/6988b3cea988ca8eb46ba825/naples-volcano-eruption.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"naples volcano eruption","caption":"naples volcano eruption","creditText":"lucamato—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/geology/","name":"geology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4616433/supervolcano-naples-campi-flegrei/","name":"A Once-Devastating Supervolcano Might Be Waking Up"}}]}] ```