Earthquakes in Italy, 2017–2026

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 5.7 on January 18, 2017 (5 km ESE of Cittareale, Italy), for which NOAA records 34 deaths. 5 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 40 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.5 on March 4, 2026 (4 km ESE of Catania, Italy). NOAA lists 6 tsunamis that began in or off Italy. The highest water NOAA records here was 1.3 m, on July 3, 2019. NOAA lists 9 significant eruptions of 3 volcanoes in or off Italy. The largest was Etna on December 26, 2018, at 2 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Campi Flegrei on September 12, 2017, which killed 3 people by NOAA’s count.

• June 1, 2026Earthquake · M 6.223 km WSW of San Lucido, ItalyUSGS
• March 9, 2026Earthquake · M 6.016 km SSE of Sant'Angelo, ItalyUSGS
• March 4, 2026Earthquake · M 4.54 km ESE of Catania, ItalyUSGS · NOAA NCEI
• November 9, 2022Earthquake · M 5.6central ItalyUSGS
• July 3, 2019Tsunami · 1.3 m hereStromboli IslandNOAA NCEI
• December 26, 2018Eruption · VEI 2EtnaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• September 12, 2017EruptionCampi Flegrei · 3 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• August 21, 2017Earthquake · M 4.2Ischia Island · 2 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• January 18, 2017Earthquake · M 5.75 km ESE of Cittareale, Italy · 34 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• January 18, 2017Earthquake · M 5.64 km SE of Cittareale, ItalyUSGS

• An event counts for Italy when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Italy is the nearest country.
• USGS counts are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
• NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
• Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
• A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
• The map frames the box around Italy, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
• Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history