Earthquakes in Italy, 1927–2026

It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 4,689 deaths for it. 92 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 55 of the events here, 10,291 in all. The ten years with the most magnitude 6+ earthquakes were 2007–2016, with 5 of the 18. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.5 on March 4, 2026 (4 km ESE of Catania, Italy). NOAA lists 18 tsunamis that began in or off Italy, and 2 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 235 m, on October 9, 1963. The deadliest, on September 11, 1930, killed one person here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 28 significant eruptions of 4 volcanoes in or off Italy. The largest was Stromboli on September 11, 1930, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Vesuvius on March 27, 1944, which killed 27 people by NOAA’s count.

• March 4, 2026Earthquake · M 4.54 km ESE of Catania, ItalyUSGS · NOAA NCEI
• October 30, 2016Earthquake · M 6.65 km ESE of Preci, Italy · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
• November 23, 1980Earthquake · M 6.92 km N of Cairano, Italy · 4,689 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• May 6, 1976Earthquake · M 6.53 km SW of Prato, Italy · 978 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• October 9, 1963Tsunami · 235 m hereVajont Dam, Vajont RiverNOAA NCEI
• July 19, 1963Earthquake · M 6.358 km SSE of San Lorenzo al Mare, ItalyUSGS
• March 27, 1944Eruption · VEI 3Vesuvius · 27 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• September 11, 1930Tsunami · 2.5 m hereStromboli Island · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• September 11, 1930Eruption · VEI 3Stromboli · 6 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• July 23, 1930Earthquake · M 6.63 km SSW of Bisaccia Nuova, Italy · 1,430 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• 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 here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
• 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