The ground is breathing
Near Naples, the ground literally rises and falls.
Campi Flegrei is a volcanic caldera where the land can lift by tens of centimetres and then sink again as pressure shifts underground - a process called bradyseism. Because the quakes are very shallow, even a moderate magnitude can feel sharp and loud to people living right on top of it.
What is happening at Campi Flegrei
Campi Flegrei ("burning fields") is not a single cone but a wide caldera, most of it now built over by the western suburbs of Naples and the town of Pozzuoli. Its unrest comes from magma and superheated fluids changing pressure a few kilometres down.
When that pressure rises, the whole floor of the caldera domes upward and swarms of small, shallow earthquakes follow. When it eases, the ground subsides again. This up-and-down motion has been recorded here since Roman times.
The hazard record here
THE RECORD HERE
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck here in 2026.
Epicentre: 16 km SSE of Sant'Angelo, Italy.
Live figures from the QuakeMate hazard API - USGS earthquake catalog, NOAA tsunami database and published recurrence estimates. Some fields are blank where there is no record.
Recent earthquakes at Campi Flegrei
- 3.0SOUTHERN ITALY6 hours ago 路 01/08/2026, 03:49:26 路 1 km deep
- 2.7SOUTHERN ITALY12 hours ago 路 31/07/2026, 21:34:47 路 1 km deep
- 2.1SOUTHERN ITALY4 hours ago 路 01/08/2026, 06:12:23 路 1 km deep
- 2.0SOUTHERN ITALY6 hours ago 路 01/08/2026, 03:41:55 路 1 km deep
- 3.1SOUTHERN ITALY11 hours ago 路 31/07/2026, 23:20:13 路 1 km deep
- 2.4SOUTHERN ITALY11 hours ago 路 31/07/2026, 23:23:21 路 0 km deep
11 more earthquakes at Campi Flegrei
Open the QuakeMate app to see every quake here, sorted and mapped - plus real-time alerts when a new one strikes.
Notable events
4.7Recent2026M4.7 - SOUTHERN ITALY16 hours ago 路 tap for full data1538
The Monte Nuovo eruption built a new hill in days - the last eruption here.
1984
A bradyseism crisis lifted Pozzuoli by nearly two metres and forced evacuations.
2023
A renewed uplift phase brought the strongest quake swarms in decades.
What scientists watch
Scientists track ground uplift, gas chemistry at the Solfatara crater and the depth of the quake swarms to tell restlessness from something more serious.
Staying ahead of it
Shallow caldera quakes give little warning and can arrive in swarms - a real-time alert is the difference between a jolt and a scramble.
Get QuakeMate freeGet warned before the next one at Campi Flegrei.
QuakeMate sends a push the instant the ground moves - plus tsunami and volcano alerts. Free to download.
Campi Flegrei: common questions
Is Campi Flegrei going to erupt?
No one can predict that. Its current unrest is ground deformation and shallow quake swarms driven by pressure changes - closely monitored, but not the same as an imminent eruption. QuakeMate surfaces the quakes here as they happen.
Why do small earthquakes near Naples feel so strong?
Because they are extremely shallow - often only two to three kilometres deep - directly beneath a densely populated area, so the shaking reaches the surface with little chance to fade.
What is bradyseism?
The slow rise and fall of the ground above a caldera as underground pressure changes. Campi Flegrei is the classic example, with metres of movement recorded over the last century.
Related hazard zones
Earthquake data via the QuakeMate API (USGS, EMSC and regional agencies). Historical notes summarise well-established events; magnitudes and dates follow the published record. Live figures may be revised.