If you check out Campi Flegrei’s eruption history on its Global Volcanism Program page, you will see that it last erupted in 1538 for a week, from late September to early October.
During that week, a new cinder cone rose near the medieval town of Pozzuoli —
It has since weathered into a beautiful piece of natural scenery in the midst of urban sprawl.
— but Monte Nuovo is not just a matter for historians. The next eruption at Campi Flegrei might well happen along the same lines!
It’s therefore important to understand that past eruption, seeing it as a key to what the future might hold for everyone in this crowded area.
Fortunately, there were multiple eyewitnesses who documented everything they saw from a variety of perspectives.
One of the best online “you are there” resources on Monte Nuovo, 1538, is this article (autotranslated) from INGV.
INGV bases its factual description on highly detailed contemporary accounts.
Here is someone’s impressionistic feel of that 1538 eruption, in Italian but with visuals to give you a sense of what it was like:
Per LingoTube, the “new mountain” (Monte Nuovo) formed in two days and matured five days later; property was ruined — but the explosion near the video’s end seems much bigger than the deadly blast on October 6, 1538, as described in this account of the eruption. It “only” killed 24 people who were on the cone’s summit and changed the cone’s shape some — bad, but not a world-shattering explosion.
Knowledgeable people who commented during some of the stronger seismic swarms recently in Campi Flegrei noted that, if an eruption ever does happen now, it likely will be along the lines of Monte Nuovo, 1538.
That was difficult enough for local people to deal with, but today — the area is so built up that it would be devastating, small though such an eruption might be compared to the Campanian Ignimbrite and Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (jargon alert for both links: in brief, these were Campi Flegrei’s best-known “big ones”).
But the Italians are resourceful and have emergency plans in place. The people living in harm’s way got a wake-up call with stronger temblors in this year’s earthquake swarms.
This past week, they got another call, too:
As one of the activities during this year’s public eruption drill — Exe Flegrei 2024 — emergency managers texted test messages for the first time.
H. sapiens, in the volcano, is doing everything possible to prepare for the next blast, whenever that might come.
In the meantime the rest of us can relax, this Sunday morning, and read about what it was like last time around.
May it not happen in real life again during our lifetimes!
Featured image: Denghiu via Wikimedia, public domain.
Flight To Wonder 