Europe's most active volcano, Mount Etna, and has recently entered a new eruptive phase.

Activity has been rumbling for the last three months, but last week it entered a new episode in a region on its south-east side.

Over the last few days, the volcano, which stands tall over the city of Catania, has put on an impressive display of explosions and ash emissions, with molten lava soaring into the sky.

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'Strong Strombolian explosions in rapid succession': The last week has seen a lot of activity on Mount Etna

The latest update from Volcano Discovery says: 'Strong strombolian explosions in rapid succession and lava effusion continue from the New SE crater with little variation during the past days.

'An ash plume is rising a few 100 m.Tremor has dropped a bit yesterday, but remains elevated.

'Whether Etna is heading towards a true paroxysm with lava fountains is unclear, but if the new phase of activity is similar to the previous episodes, it might continue the same type of activity at fluctuating levels for a while and then fade.

Much of the activity comes from a region in the south-east side of the volcano

Last month, flights in and out of the Italian city of Catania were disrupted due to volcanic activity.

The airport remained open but two air space corridors were temporarily closed on, resulting in delays and disruptions for tourists trying to reach Sicily.

None of the recent eruptions have been serious enough to trigger an evacuation of the mountain villages nearby.

Mount Etna stands almost 11,000 feet above sea level, looming above the Italian island of Sicily

Mount Etna stands almost 11,000ft (3.4km) above sea level, looming over the whole Italian island of Sicily. It has been active for thousands of years, although its first eruption of modern times was thought to be in 475 BC.

In 1669, a series of blasts killed 20,000 people and destroyed Catania. But farmers stayed in the area because the constant eruptions made the ground fertile.

Smoke rises from Mount Etna on the southern Italian island of Sicily near Catania on August 13, 2014

In 1992, Etna posed another serious threat when lava streams headed towards Zafferana, a town of 7,000 people, but they Italian and U.S soldiers managed to control the explosions and divert the flow.

Volcanic ash clouds can pose problems for aircraft. The immense ash clouds that erupted from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in 2010 caused chaos for the airline industry.

Etna's blasts are known as Strombolian eruptions - caused when gas bubbles in molten magma accumulate underground and rise to the surface

Etna's blasts are known as Strombolian eruptions - caused when gas bubbles in molten magma accumulate underground and rise to the surface.