Volcano·Guide
Stromboli today: night-time eruption with glowing lava fragments above the crater, as visitors see it from the viewpoint

Stromboli today

Stromboli is always active. The question is never whether it erupts – it is how high you may climb today and whether the boat is running. Both depend on a colour.

Photo: kuhnmi · CC BY 2.0

As of today

Is Stromboli active right now – and can you go up?

Active it is, every day: an explosion every 10 to 20 minutes from the craters at about 700 m (2,300 ft). INGV in Catania writes a weekly bulletin, civil protection in Rome sets the alert level, the mayor of Lipari turns it into an altitude limit. We fetch the level every morning – it answers the three questions of the day almost by itself.

290 m free · 400 m guided

Can I go up today – how high?

At alert level yellow, in force since 14 August 2024: up to 290 m (950 ft) without a guide via the Strada vicinale Parroco and the old mule track, up to 400 m (1,310 ft) only with a licensed guide, who provides helmet and dust mask. From Ginostra the free zone ends at 130 m. Nobody goes above 400 m, guided or not – the summit at 924 m (3,031 ft) is closed. If the level jumps to orange, everything above 290 m is closed and the lower path is guide-only; at red climbing is banned, and so are the beaches at night. Legal basis: ordinance no. 16 of the mayor of Lipari, 5 May 2025.

4 departures from Milazzo

Are the boats running?

In the Liberty Lines winter timetable valid from 1 October 2026, hydrofoils leave Milazzo for Stromboli at 6:00, 7:30, 14:00 and 14:30 (some sailings only on certain weekdays) and return from Stromboli at 7:15, 11:00, 16:15 and 17:15. In summer there were up to nine. In wind and swell the hydrofoils are cancelled – full refund or rebooking, but no way back that day. Only the operator's booking system shows whether today's boat runs; hence a buffer day before your flight home.

last one 12 Jun 2026

Have there been major explosions lately?

Two in spring 2026, neither with consequences for the island: on 23 May at 17:03 UTC an above-normal explosion from the central-southern crater area, incandescent material up to 200 m (650 ft) high; on 12 June at 05:12 UTC an 'esplosione maggiore' from the north crater whose bombs came to rest in the upper Sciara del Fuoco. The latest weekly bulletin (no. 40/2026 of 29 September 2026) reports ordinary activity at a medium-high level, no earthquake of Ml 1.0 or more, no ground deformation.

Yellow
Civil protection alert level – it sets the altitude limitCivil protection alert level (green/yellow/orange/red) · checked on 2026-10-03 · Dipartimento della Protezione Civile – Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri (CC BY 4.0)
Sources: Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, Stromboli alert level (fetched by us daily, CC BY 4.0); Comune di Lipari, mayoral ordinance no. 16 of 5 May 2025 with access rules (still the most recent in the INGV archive on 2 October 2026); INGV Osservatorio Etneo, weekly bulletins no. 22/2026 (26 May), no. 25/2026 (16 June) and no. 40/2026 (29 September 2026); Liberty Lines, Aeolian Islands timetable from 1 October 2026. How we check is explained on How we check.
Stromboli climb today: a path of black ash between reed grass, a guided group with helmets higher up
This is where the free part ends: anyone may walk to 290 m, beyond that only with a guide, helmet and mask – and at 400 m it is over for everyone.

Photo: Benjamín Núñez González · CC BY-SA 4.0

The rule

Alert level and altitude limit: what each colour means for visitors

Civil protection grades the volcano, the municipality follows. The colour says nothing about tonight's show – it says how close you may get to the mountain. What the four levels have meant in practice is written in the ordinances of 2024 and 2025.

  1. GreenBase level

    Ordinary Strombolian activity, nothing unusual. There is no separate green-level ordinance with different limits in the INGV archive; the rules of no. 16/2025 apply until the mayor changes them. Stromboli has not been at green since August 2024.

  2. YellowAttention – in force today

    'Volcano in disequilibrium', enhanced monitoring. For visitors: 290 m free (Ginostra 130 m), 400 m with a licensed guide, at most 25 guests per guide and 75 people above 290 m at once, tours between 11 am and midnight. Since 14 August 2024, last confirmed at the situation meeting of 3 December 2025.

  3. OrangePre-alarm

    Most recently 25 June–4 July and 23 July–14 August 2024: everything above 290 m closed, below only with a guide (ordinance no. 23 of 25 June 2024). The guided 400 m tour disappears; the boat trip off the Sciara remains the alternative.

  4. RedAlarm

    Most recently 4–23 July 2024: climbing banned completely, and at night the shoreline too because of the tsunami risk (ordinance no. 31 of 4 July 2024). Civil protection sets up its forward post (COA) on the island and keeps the population informed.

Sources: Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, Stromboli page (levels verde/giallo/arancione/rosso, 'disequilibrio', accessed 2 October 2026); Comune di Lipari, ordinances no. 23 of 25 June 2024, no. 31 of 4 July 2024, no. 50 of 14 August 2024 and no. 16 of 5 May 2025 (INGV archive CME); INGV-CME, Stromboli status page (yellow, meeting of 3 December 2025). Anyone crossing the limit pays €500 – checkpoints on the paths enforce it.

Timeline

What has happened since 2019

Ordinary activity does not count as an event – it is the normal state. Here are the exceptions: two paroxysms in 2019 that closed the summit, the summer 2024 crisis with alert level red, and the major explosions of 2026.

  1. 3 Jul 2019Paroxysm, one death

    14:45 UTC: eruption column about 4.5 km (2.8 miles) above the summit, at least two pyroclastic flows run down the Sciara del Fuoco more than 1 km out to sea, fires as far as Ginostra. Near Punta dei Corvi a 35-year-old hiker is killed by incandescent ejecta. The summit is closed afterwards.

  2. 28 Aug 2019Second paroxysm

    10:17 UTC: three explosions, column above 4 km, a pyroclastic flow more than 500 m out to sea; from 30 August a lava flow reaches the coast. The summit stays closed; from February 2021 the municipality allows 400 m with a guide again.

  3. 23/24 Jun 2024Yellow becomes orange

    Activity increases, civil protection raises the level. Ordinance no. 23 of 25 June 2024: closed above 290 m, below only with a guide.

  4. 4 Jul 2024Red – lava to the sea

    An eruptive fissure opens at the foot of the north-east crater, a lava flow runs down the Sciara del Fuoco into the sea, a pyroclastic flow triggers a wave about 40 cm (16 in) high. Civil protection goes to red and speaks of 'potenziato disequilibrio'; ordinance no. 31: climbing banned, beaches too at night.

  5. 23 Jul 2024Back to orange

    Activity calms down, civil protection lowers the level. Above 290 m stays closed.

  6. 14 Aug 2024Yellow – but only 100 m free

    Downgrade to yellow. Ordinance no. 50: without a guide only to the observatory at 100 m, with a guide to 400 m.

  7. 19/20 Oct 2024Storm instead of volcano

    Flooding in Ginostra, paths damaged by erosion and debris; on 28 March 2025 the cabinet declares a national state of emergency. The Sentiero Natura has been closed since because of landslide risk at the Torrente Vallonazzo.

  8. 5 May 2025Ordinance no. 16 – 290 m free again

    The rule in force today: 290 m free, 400 m with a guide, Sentiero Natura closed. On 2 October 2026 it is the most recent Stromboli ordinance in the INGV archive.

  9. 23 May 2026Above-normal explosion

    17:03 UTC, central-southern crater area, incandescent material up to 200 m high with fallout to the west. INGV rates it 'energetically above the ordinary'; all other readings stay unremarkable.

  10. 12 Jun 2026Major explosion from the north crater

    05:12 UTC main explosion, then at least three smaller ones; bombs and lapilli fall into the upper Sciara del Fuoco, part of it slides down the canyon without reaching the coast. No damage in the village, no change to the alert level.

Sources: INGV-CME, 'Parossismi di Stromboli del 3 luglio – 28 agosto 2019'; Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, press releases of 4 July 2024 (red) and 23 July 2024 (orange); INGV Osservatorio Etneo, weekly bulletins no. 22/2026 and no. 25/2026 (downloaded via ct.ingv.it); ordinances of the municipality of Lipari 2024/2025.
Sciara del Fuoco on Stromboli at dusk: a glowing lava flow runs down the black flank to the sea
The Sciara del Fuoco is the chute for everything the mountain throws out – including the explosion of 12 June 2026, whose bombs stopped in its upper part.

Photo: Unukorno · CC BY 3.0

Sirens

What the sirens on Stromboli mean

Two automatic early-warning systems run on the island, both still labelled 'sperimentale': one detects an incoming paroxysm, the other a tsunami. Both warn with sirens and announcements in Italian and English – with only a few minutes' notice. Civil protection is explicit: paroxysms and tsunamis can come 'repentinamente', regardless of the alert level.

Paroxysm siren

Sounds 'alcuni minuti prima' – a few minutes ahead – with two signals: one for the coastal zone, one for the hiking trails. If you are on the coast, the beach or at the harbour, go uphill into the island's interior at once and into a building. If you are in the Vallonazzo or another gully on the slopes, climb the side of the valley. If you are on a boat, move quickly away from the coast towards open sea.

Tsunami siren

A wave can follow a paroxysm or a large landslide on the Sciara – five tsunamis in about a hundred years (1916, 1919, 1930, 1944, 2002), plus the 40 cm wave of 4 July 2024. The second system announces the wave 'alcuni minuti prima dell'arrivo'. Then: away from the water, uphill, and follow the instructions of civil protection and its volunteers. This is why the beaches were closed at night under red in 2024.

During the explosion

Outdoors, protect mouth, nose and eyes from ash and take cover in a building. If you are in a house away from the coast, stay inside, away from doors and windows, under a table. The information boards in the village show the signals – read them right after arrival; civil protection has put sound samples online at iononrischio.protezionecivile.it.

Sources: Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, Stromboli page (two early-warning systems, tsunami years) and the 'Io non rischio' campaign, Stromboli – Cosa sapere / Cosa fare (behaviour rules, signals), both accessed 2 October 2026.
Stromboli today at night: red-glowing lava trails run down the Sciara del Fuoco to the sea
This is the normal state, not the alarm: embers rolling down the Sciara every few minutes. The sirens stay silent for this.

Photo: Unukorno · CC BY 3.0

Watch live

What the mountain is doing right now

The alert level rarely changes; the mountain changes every quarter of an hour. To see what is going on right now, look at the INGV cameras – two of them are thermal and catch the explosions at night and in fog.

Stromboli webcamFour INGV cameras on the Sciara del Fuoco and the crater terrace, refreshed every 30 minutes, two of them thermal – with a guide to what a bright spot means.INGV Osservatorio Etneo – video surveillance Aeolian IslandsINGV's original page with all cameras on Stromboli and Vulcano.INGV – Stromboli statusWeekly bulletins by INGV and the University of Florence, archive of ordinances, special pages on 2019 and 2024.

Quick questions

The most common questions about Stromboli today

Is Stromboli active right now?

Yes, always. Every 10 to 20 minutes glowing scoria flies out of the craters at about 700 m – the normal state that gave the 'Strombolian' eruption type its name. The INGV bulletin of 29 September 2026 reports ordinary activity at a medium-high level. The civil protection alert level is shown above, fetched fresh every morning.

Can you climb Stromboli?

To 290 m yes, without a guide or ticket; to 400 m only with a licensed guide. The summit at 924 m has been closed to everyone since the 2019 paroxysms. That is the yellow-level rule under ordinance no. 16 of the municipality of Lipari of 5 May 2025. At orange everything above 290 m closes; at red the whole climb does.

How dangerous is Stromboli?

Within the permitted zone the ordinary activity is harmless – that is what the limits are for. Rarely a paroxysm throws blocks for kilometres: in 2019 a hiker died that way. Then there are tsunamis, most recently a 40 cm wave in 2024. Both can happen regardless of the alert level, civil protection stresses – hence the sirens with a few minutes' notice.

What does alert level yellow mean for visitors?

Yellow has been the permanent state since August 2024: the volcano counts as 'in disequilibrium' and is monitored more closely; the municipality allows 290 m free and 400 m guided. For your visit yellow changes nothing – every tour of the past two years ran under this level. It only gets decisive at orange.

Do the ferries run in winter?

Yes, but less often. From 1 October 2026 Liberty Lines sails four times a day from Milazzo (6:00, 7:30, 14:00, 14:30, some sailings not every day) and back at 7:15, 11:00, 16:15 and 17:15; the Siremar car ferries run all year. In a storm the hydrofoils stay in port – more often in autumn and winter; then you get a full refund or rebooking.

When was Stromboli's last major eruption?

The last crisis was in summer 2024: on 4 July lava flowed into the sea, a pyroclastic flow triggered a 40 cm wave and civil protection went to red. INGV reported the latest 'major' explosions on 23 May and 12 June 2026, both without damage. The last paroxysms – the really big ones – were on 3 July and 28 August 2019.

What do I do if the mountain is closed?

Take the boat. The evening trips off the Sciara del Fuoco from Stromboli, Milazzo, Lipari or Tropea show the eruptions from below – at orange they are the only option, at red the harbour authority decides. Everything about them is on the Stromboli page.

How current is this page?

We fetch the alert level daily at 6 am; the fetch date is shown next to it. The altitude limits come from the ordinance of 5 May 2025, the most recent in the INGV archive on 2 October 2026; they can change within a day if civil protection changes the level. Timetable: Liberty Lines from 1 October 2026. Explosions: INGV bulletins up to 29 September 2026.

Next

If you want to cross over

StromboliThe three front-row seats: 290 m, 400 m, boat – with tours, getting there, best time.Stromboli webcamThe Sciara del Fuoco live, thermal at night too.Aeolian IslandsAll seven islands, crossing times from Milazzo, island hopping.VulcanoThe neighbouring island with its own traffic light for the crater rim.Mount Etna todayAlert phase, aviation colour code, what is open – fetched every morning.

Sources · accessed on 2 October 2026