The volcano

Etna
most active volcano in Europe

History

Like all volcanoes, Etna was formed over the millennia with a process of construction and destruction that began around 600,000 years ago, in the Quaternary.
In its place, it is believed that there was a large gulf at the point of contact between the Eurasian plate to the north and the African plate to the south, corresponding to the Peloritani mountain range to the north and the Hyblean plateau to the south.
It was precisely the colossal friction between the two plates that gave rise to the first submarine eruptions of very fluid basaltic lava with the birth of the first volcanic cones, in the center of the primordial gulf.
It is believed that between 200 and 100,000 years ago these cones entered a new phase of eruptive activity by emitting lava of another type, alkali-basaltic.

The volcano

Il Mongibello, A Muntagna, l’Etna

The wild nature of Etna, its landscapes and its eruptions, have made it an object of great interest for classical Greek and Roman mythology, modern and contemporary art and literature and even music. We find traces of the volcano in Homer’s Odyssey, in Pindar, Thucydides, Diodorus Siculus, Virgil and Ovid.

The volcano was a source of inspiration for Petrarca, Lorenzo de’ Medici and Tasso. He crossed national borders with Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe and Guy de Maupassant. He was the protagonist in Verga, Marinetti, Pirandello and in the theater of Strehler.. Splendid set in Coldplay’s “Violet Hill” video and powerful image that today enchants the whole world thanks to social networks.

The volcano

Etna is the highest active volcano on the European continent and one of the largest in the world.


Located on the eastern coast of Sicily between Catania and Messina, and crossed by the 15th meridian east, it currently has an altitude of around 3,340 m. a.s.l., but varies over time due to its eruptions, and a diameter of about 45 kilometers.
The name Etna could go back to the ancient Greek pronunciation of the toponym Aitna, a name that was also attributed to the cities of Catania and Inessa, which derives from the Greek word aitho (to burn) or from the Phoenician word attano (furnace). Etna was known in Roman times as Aetna.

The Arabs called the mountain Jabal al-burk or Jabal Al¹ma ("Volcano" or "Summary Mountain of Sicily"), a name which later became Mons Gibel, i.e. mountain twice (from the Latin mons "mount" and from the Arabic Jebel " mountain"), to indicate its majesty.
According to another theory, the name Mongibello derives from Mulciber ("qui ignem mulcet"), one of the epithets with which the god Vulcan was called by the Latins, which served to appease the destructive force of Etna. Today the name Mongibello indicates the summit part of Etna, the area of the two central craters, as well as the southeast and northeast craters. Locals also call Etna 'a muntagna', a dialectal expression that indicates the mountain par excellence.

The volcano

The historical eruptions of Etna

The longest eruption in historical memory is that of July 1614..
The phenomenon lasted 10 years and emitted over 1 billion cubic meters of lava, covering 21 km2 of surface on the northern slope of the volcano.
The lava flows originated at an altitude of 2550 and had the particular characteristic of becoming engulfed and then emerging much further downstream up to an altitude of 975 m a.s.l., however above the inhabited centres.
The emptying of the ingrowing ducts originated a whole series of lava caves, which can be visited today, such as the Grotta del Gelo and the Grotta dei Lamponi.
In 1669 the best known and most destructive eruption took place, which reached and exceeded the city of Catania from the western side, destroying the external part up to the walls, surrounding the Ursino Castle, which stood on a rocky outcrop stretching out over the sea, and overcoming it created over 1km of new mainland.
The eruption was announced by a very loud roar and an earthquake which destroyed many villages in the foothills.
The emission of an enormous quantity of lava began which advanced inexorably towards the sea. The event gave rise to the two pyroclastic cones which are now called Monti Rossi, north of Nicolosi. The eruption lasted 122 days and emitted a volume of lava of about 950 million cubic metres.
In 1892 another eruption led to the formation, at about 2000 m of altitude, of the Monti Silvestri complex. 1983 is to be remembered not only for the duration of the eruption, 131 days, with 100 million cubic meters of lava emitted (which destroyed sports facilities and again the Etna cable car), also for the first attempt in the world to divert the lava flow by means of explosives.
On 14 December 1991, the longest eruption of the 20th century began, lasting 473 days, with the opening of an eruptive fracture at the base of the South-East Crater, at an altitude of between 3100 m and 2400 m a.s.l. in the direction of Valle del Bove.

The volcano