During the summer of 1982 a continuous uplift began at Phlegraean Fields, an active volcanic area in southern Italy (Fig.

The essential features of the ongoing potential pre-eruptive crisis at the Phlegraean Fields begun in August 1982 are summarized and the main problems faced by scientists responsible of volcanic hazards evaluation in such a densely populated area are discussed.

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The research carried out at the Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (formerly Istituto di Metrologia «G. Colonnetti») aiming to develop a transportable ballistic absolute gravimeter ended with a new version of the instrument, called the IMGC-02. It uses laser interferometry to measure the symmetrical free rising and falling motion of a test mass in the gravity field. Providing the same accuracy achieved with previous versions, the instrumental improvements mainly concern size, weight, data processing algorithms and operational simplicity. An uncertainty of 9 µGal (1 µGal=1×10 -8 m•s −2 ) can be achieved within a single observation session, lasting about 12 h, while the time series of several observation sessions show a reproducibility of 4 µGal. At this level, gravity measurements provide useful information in Geophysics and Volcanology. A wide set of dynamic phenomena, i.e. seismicity and volcanic activity, can produce temporal gravity changes, often quite small, with an amplitude ranging from a few to hundreds of microgals. Therefore the IMGC absolute gravimeter has been employed since 1986 in surveying the Italian active volcanoes. A brief history of the gravimeter and the description of the new apparatus, together with the main results of ongoing applications in Geophysics and Volcanology are presented.