From 1607 to 2000, Mount Etna emitted around 4.5 km3 of magma. However, 3 km3 was issued in 80 years between 1607 and 1689, and only 1.5 km3 in over 300 years. The duration of some eruptions lasting 10 years and the individual volumes of each eruption (up to 1 km3), are extraordinary parameters for ...

A paroxysm is an eruptive event of short duration but high intensity, especially in terms of explosiveness. It can create a fountain of lava reaching over 1 km in height, capable of fragmenting the magma very efficiently and forming large columns of ash that fall onto air traffic of the nearby airpo...

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On 6 May 1787, the German writer climbed Mount Etna, or rather, the Monti Rossi (Red Mountains), which were formed following the lateral eruption of 1669. His tour of Sicily, the Grand Tour considered by many Central European intellectuals, especially French and German, as a compulsory stage of educ...

Mario Gemmellaro was born in Nicolosi in 1773 and was a scholar of natural history, physics and meteorology. He was also a famous volcanologist. His research on Etna began around 1800, probably following contact with great naturalist travellers such as Déodat de Dolomieu and Lazzaro Spallanzani. In...

Pit craters are circular depressions up to one hundred metres deep, which at first glance look like a classic volcanic crater. But, unlike the latter, there has never been any eruptive activity in the pit craters. They are formed by sinking due to a movement of magma in the area below. As a result...

In volcanology the term caldera means a large circular or elliptical basin or depression, often occupied by a lake. The caldera is normally formed after a very violent eruption in which the magma chamber of the volcano is emptied and its roof collapses due to the void created: this collapse on the ...

In 1800, some attempts were made to create a stable structure at a high altitude, from which Etna’s volcanological phenomena could be observed. It was inspired by the eruption of 1923, which convinced the authorities of the quality of the initiative proposed by Gaetano Ponte, Professor of Volcano...

Once in the square where the Val Calanna begins, besides a fountain and a drinking trough for grazing animals, there is a votive shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Providence, erected in 1992 by the inhabitants of Zafferana. They came to this place in procession, to ask that their town be saved from...

The Valle del Bove is a large valley that covers the entire eastern flank of Mount Etna. Its name comes from the shape of its edges, which resemble an ox hoof (bove means ox in Italian). Formed between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago, in the last 50 years the completely uninhabited Valle del Bove has be...