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This deadly supervolcano is getting ready to blow

A massive Italian volcano is at a “critical stage” in the build-up to a devastating eruption, scientists have warned.

They say the Phlegraean Fields supervolcano, known in its native Italy as Campi Flegrei, could blow sooner than predicted.

Located outside the western suburbs of Naples, a blast could affect 360,000 people living across the caldera and Naples’ population of nearly one million.

The last eruption took place in 1538 but the area has been restless since 1950, with regular earthquakes since.

But now experts from Vesuvius Observatory in Naples and University College London have spotted magma swelling beneath the crust – similar to what happened before the blast some 500 years ago.

A recent study which was published in Nature said their findings “raise[s] concern that volcanic activity might be imminent.”

Christopher Kilburn, Director of the UCL Hazard Center, said: “By studying how the ground is cracking and moving at Campi Flegrei, we think it may be approaching a critical stage where further unrest will increase the possibility of an eruption.”

“It’s imperative that the authorities are prepared for this.”

The researchers couldn’t say when an eruption was due, but that it would be sooner than expected.

They spotted the swell by monitoring patterns in the crust movement.

Every time Campi Flegrei has edged toward the brink, a swell of energy has helped to push the crust upward.

A tourists looks at steaming fumarolas at the Solfatara crater bed, in the Phlegraean Fields.AP

It was widely accepted that each time it failed to erupt, that energy simply subsided.

But now it appears that it has continued to build up – meaning that with a bit of seismic activity, more momentum is gathering below the surface.

And the next push could be the last.

“The results provide the first quantitative evidence that Campi Flegrei is evolving towards conditions more favorable to eruption,” Kilburn added.

Campi Flegrei is not the only volcano to plague Italy.

The country is home to the tallest active volcano in Europe, Mount Etna.

Etna regularly erupts and sends lava and ash shooting hundreds of feet into the sky.

It last blew in March, sending ash clouds pluming for three days.