Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe located in Sicily erupted and released a large cloud of ash into the air.
Videos on social media showed tourists quickly running down the volcano's slopes to escape the eruption.
The monitoring institute said the "amplitude values of volcanic tremors are currently high" and were "showing a tendency to increase," reported Sky News.
It added the eruptive activity has "continued with strombolian explosions of increasing intensity that, at the moment, are to be considered to be very intense and almost continuous."
"In the last few hours there's been reports of [a] little thin ash in Piano Vetore," the institute further added.
Mount Etna releases ash in largest eruption since 2014:
As per the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, the recent eruption is the largest since 2014.
Authorities reported that the volcanic ash cloud from the eruption had risen to about 6.5 kilometers (over 4 miles) into the sky.
However, the officials have stated that there is no risk to the people living nearby at the moment.
Meanwhile, officials have blocked several roads leading to the volcano to prevent people from approaching the dangerous eruption area.
Mount Etna is a popular tourist spot with about 1.5 million visitors each year.
