Overview
- A magnitude 4.4 quake struck the Campi Flegrei area early Thursday, May 21, 2026, with its epicentre in the sea between Pozzuoli and Bacoli at about three kilometres depth and it was widely felt across Naples.
- The tremor woke residents, prompted precautionary school closures and municipal emergency centres to be activated, and caused only minor reported damage and no serious injuries.
- Italy’s national volcanology institute (INGV) and regional civil‑protection teams have kept the alert at Yellow and are maintaining close seismic, GPS and gas monitoring of the caldera.
- A peer‑reviewed study mapping the magmatic system identifies two magma reservoirs at different depths and gas accumulation near roughly 3 km, and it finds no signs of an imminent eruption.
- A separate preprint analysis models a possible super‑exponential acceleration that could lead to a critical ‘regime change’ in the 2033–2035 window but the result is not peer‑reviewed and its outcome remains uncertain, reinforcing the call for sustained surveillance and preparedness for the densely populated region.