There is a volcano in Europe that has been spewing lava continuously for more than 2 thousand years

While some volcanoes have spent the last 2,000 years in a deep slumber, Stromboli, a volcanic island north of Sicily, has had no such rest. In fact, the “lighthouse of the Mediterranean” spent practically all of this time in constant eruptive activity.

Although some volcanologists argue that the Italian volcano may be erupting, there is even more timeit is generally accepted that the first record of an eruption dates back to 350 a.C.with subsequent reports suggesting that the volcano has been almost always expelling lava since then.

Most of these eruptions, despite being explosive, tend to be of moderate intensity and usually manifest themselves in the form of brief jets of lavainstead of producing prolonged eruptive columns.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth watching; Stromboli explosions are so impressive that the volcano It has earned the nickname “Lighthouse of the Mediterranean” as its incandescent, firework-like eruptions illuminate the night sky with an orange glow.

These frequent and moderately explosive eruptions also gave the name to a type of eruption, the “strombolian rash“, used to describe explosions intermittent, discrete and short-livedwhich throw basaltic lava tens or even hundreds of meters into the air.

More violent eruptions at Stromboli are less common, but have happened. A period particularly intense of activity began in May 1910 and would only end in July 1931, during which several people lost their lives due to the volcano’s eruptions.

One of the most remarkable events occurred on May 22, 1919, when an intense eruptive sequence caused the falling block of debris of a thousand kilos over the island’s village, fires in vegetation areas and a tsunami, resulting in the destruction of 10 to 20 houses, several injuries and four deaths.

And it wouldn’t stop here. On September 11, 1930, Stromboli staged its strongest eruption of the 20th centurysays .

That morning, the volcano registered two intense explosions which created an eruptive column of 2.5 kilometers highburning clouds of extremely hot volcanic gases and ash that slid towards the sea, and huge blocks of debris – one weighing 30 tons – that fell nearby. Six people lost their lives in this tragedy.

The Stromboli calmed down again in July of the following year, before producing a new strong explosion less than a year later. This eruptive episode was short-lived. What’s next? Not so much. The volcano became active again on February 2, 1934 and, since then, continues to erupt to this day.