Living on a volcano in southern Italy: Between worry, resignation and preparing for the worst

I'm near Naples, Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii, in the far lesser-known Italian city of Pozzuoli which lies on a huge magma caldera which, over millennia, has created a volcanic landscape known as Campi Flegrei. Lately, this volatile geology has triggered thousands of small earthquakes.

I'm invited to follow scientists at the Vesuvius Observatory from the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology as they monitor activity inside a crater whose gas emissions seem particularly intense.

"In these areas, gas emissions are coming from deep below ground," says Mauro Antonio Di Vito, the Institute's director, as we walk around the fumaroles (vents in the surface of the Earth where hot volcanic gases and vapours are emitted).

"Observing and understanding how these emissions change over time is important to characterise what is happening deep down at the magma chamber," he adds.

Real-time data from gas emissions, seismic activity, and soil and air temperatures are monitored 24 hours a day from a huge control room in the Institute's headquarters.

"In September, we had more than 1000 earthquakes in a month. Of course, most earthquakes are very low magnitude, with a few that reached magnitudes 3.8, 4.0 or even 4.2. Now the process has slowed down. But we know that this can change. All we can do is continue to monitor the area with the utmost attention," Mauro Antonio Di Vito explains.

Residents here seem accustomed to these uncertainties. Historically prone to eruptions, the area also displays a geological feature known as 'bradyseism'. Pushed by magma and gases, the soil moves up and down as if it's breathing. Sometimes, these movements result in potentially dangerous tremors for buildings and people.

One of Pozzuoli's neighbourhoods