The Solfatara crater in Campi Flegrei (Image: DenghiùComm, Wikimedia Commons)
IMAGINE living over a giant volcano, watching the ground move by metres and not knowing if the Earth is about to explode. That’s what life is like for two million people living in Campi Flegrei, Italy, who built their homes in an ancient volcanic crater. But now a simple monitoring programme may show which rumblings are innocent, and when people should run for it.
Craters or “calderas” such as Campi Flegrei were formed by huge supervolcanoes many thousands of years ago. Some, like those at Yellowstone National Park and Long Valley ski resort in the US, and Campi Flegrei itself, still…
