Sicily's Mount Etna put on a fiery show on Monday, sending a cloud of smoke and ash several kilometres into the air. 

Although the eruption sent some tourists scrambling, officials said the activity posed no danger to the population.

The level of alert was raised at the Catania airport due to the volcanic activity, but no immediate interruptions were reported. An official update declared the ash cloud emission had ended by the afternoon.

Video and photos of the eruption show a sudden cascade of material and billowing ash running down the flank of the summit, appearing as though the volcano was splitting in half.

Footage shared on social media shows tourists running along a path on the flank of the vast volcano as smoke swirled some distance in the background. Excursions are popular on Etna, which is some 3,300 metres high, with a surface area of some 1,200 square kilometres. 

Italy's INGV National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the spectacle on Europe's most active volcano was caused when part of the southeast crater collapsed, resulting in hot lava flows and accompanying clouds of ash.

The volcanic clouds reached a height of 6,500 metres at one point, according to observations recorded by the institute. It was the 14th eruptive phase in recent months.

The area of danger was confined to the summit of Etna, which was closed to tourists as a precaution, according to Stefano Branca, an INGV official in Catania. The southeast crater sits about 2,800 metres above sea level. 

Sicily's president, Renato Schifani, said lava flows emitted in the eruption had not passed the natural containment area, "and posed no danger to the population."

Dramatic fits are common at Mount Etna, which is Europe's most active volcano. The volcano drew eyes in mid-May when it shot plumes of lava and clouds of ash up into the sky, feeding two modest lava flows near its active southeast crater. 

Tremors from Monday's eruption were widely felt in the towns and villages on Mount Etna's flanks, Italian media reported.

The Civil Protection in Sicily recommended hikers avoid the volcano's summit until further notice.