Airport closes as Mount Etna explodes
Sicily's Mount Etna erupted again this week - producing fountains of glowing lava and rocks from its molten core that landed up to half a mile away.
The molten rock turned into rivers of magma, that flowed so close to the nearby city that the nearest airport, Catania, had to be closed over safety fears.
Although it is now reopened, the eruption appears to be continuing with firefighters and airport chiefs on high alert should another blow spread burning ash further across the runways.
There are also concerns for the long-distance bicycle race, Giro D'Italia, which will pass the mountain on Sunday.
A mass clean-up operation is underway on all the nearby roads to make the course as safe for riders as possible.
Italy's Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe at 3,295 metres (10,810 feet) above sea level.
Known as 'Jebel Utlamat' in Arabic - meaning 'mountain of fire - Etna's name is thought to originate from the Phoenician word 'attuna', meaning 'furnace'.
The volcano has been active for around half a million years, with 15,000 people killed during its most violent eruption in 1669.
While its modern eruptions have rarely threatened the inhabited areas in the volcano's vicinity, a lengthy blast in 2002 was spectacular enough for footage of it to be included in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
It has been continuously active for several centuries, and the crater at the summit is permanently filled with molten lava.
It is thought of as a 'safe' volcano, oddly because it is so active, but geologists have been warning since the late 1990s that Etna seems to be becoming more active.
The cone of the south east crater has grown by 300ft since late 1998, showing that the forces underground are stretching the mountain to breaking point.
See our video of Mount Etna erupting!
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