Mount Etna's Volcanic Eruption Caught on Film (VIDEO)

A volcano eruption in Italy shot dangerously hot lava and gas into the air earlier this week and the footage of nature's wrath was caught on film.

Mount Etna, located on the east coast of Sicily, major erupted on Tuesday for the first time this year, Live Science reports, and the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology was there to record an amazing 3-minute long video capturing the violent eruption to the backdrop of the night sky.

"(I've) followed the activity of Etna for many years, and with time you learn to know it as if it were your friend," Klaus Dorschfeldt, a videographer and webmaster at the institute who recorded the video, told Live Science. "Following it constantly (you) learn to be a keen observer and a minor change can lead to something important,"

Etna is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth and in recent weeks has been showing signs of a possible eruption. On Jan. 22, the the volcano's New Southeast Crater began to show lava and strong flashes that were visible from the Sicilian foothills. Dorschfeldt was aware of the signs and waited with his camera to share footage of the eruption with the world.

At nearly 11,000-feet, Etna is the tallest volcano in Europe. Its Bocca Nuova crater also erupted earlier this year in mid January.