Italy's Mount Etna lights up night skies

FILE PHOTO: Large streams of red hot lava shoot into the night sky as Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, continues to erupt, as seen from the village of Fornazzo, Italy February 22, 2021. Picture taken February 22, 2021. REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello/File Photo

ROME (Reuters) - Europe's tallest active volcano, Italy's Mount Etna, has been lighting up the night sky with explosions, lava fountains and ash plumes, dazzling onlookers and viewers on social media.

"We are observing stronger than ordinary activity, with more magma rising from the pipes and richer in gas," Stefano Branca, head of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Catania, at the foot of the volcano, told Reuters.