Mount Etna
Etna
Interesting facts
- The whole volcano is creeping towards the Mediterranean at an average of about 14 millimetres a year.
- In 1992 engineers blew up a lava tube with explosives to divert a flow into an artificial channel away from the town of Zafferana.
- After a violent eruption in 122 BCE collapsed roofs in Catania, Rome excused the city's people from taxes for ten years.
- Ancient writers credited an eruption in 396 BCE with halting a Carthaginian army marching on Syracuse.
- Plutarch was among those who linked an Etna eruption in 44 BCE to the famines that followed in Rome, Egypt and even China.
- In 1928 a lava flow almost entirely wiped out the town of Mascali within two days, the first town destroyed since 1669.
- Ash from the 2002 eruption was visible from space and drifted as far as Libya, some 600 kilometres away across the sea.
- Etna stands about two and a half times as tall as Vesuvius, and in Europe and North Africa west of the Black Sea only Teide is higher.
- Besides its summit craters, the volcano's flanks are scarred by more than 300 vents, from small holes to craters hundreds of metres wide.
- Volcanic activity here goes back roughly 350,000 to 500,000 years, and the United Nations lists Etna as one of its Decade Volcanoes.
Why it is worth it
Mount Etna rises on the east coast of Sicily between Catania and Messina, a volcano so large that its base measures about 140 km around and covers some 1,190 square kilometres. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, but its height is never fixed: in 2021 the Southeast Crater reached 3,357 metres, and after the eruptions of 2024 the Voragine crater took over as the summit at around 3,403 metres. Etna is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, in an almost constant state of activity, and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in June 2013.
The Greeks and Romans placed the forge of Hephaestus, or Vulcan, beneath the mountain, and said Zeus had trapped the monster Typhon under it. The volcano's real history is no less dramatic. Thousands of years ago its eastern flank collapsed in a giant landslide, leaving the Valle del Bove, the Valley of the Ox, a great depression into which many recent lava flows have run; research published in 2006 dated the collapse to about 8,000 years ago. In 1669 the volcano's most destructive eruption in historical times sent lava through at least ten villages and up to the walls of Catania, where it poured around the city into the sea and filled the harbour. Despite later stories of thousands of deaths, contemporary accounts record none, and only 77 deaths can be attributed with certainty to Etna's eruptions in all of recorded history.
Living with Etna means living with frequent disruption. Lava fountains from the summit craters are common, ash falls on Catania, and the city's airport has closed repeatedly, most recently in August 2026 when a new eruptive phase at the Voragine crater sent lava into the Valle del Bove and forced hundreds of flights to be cancelled or rerouted before operations resumed on 15 August. The volcano has also produced rare vortex rings of gas from its craters, recorded in 2000 and 2013. At the same time its fertile soils support vineyards and orchards on its lower slopes, and ten municipalities meet at its summit.
The usual approach for visitors is the road up the south side to the Rifugio Sapienza ski area at 1,910 metres, the main tourist hub. From there a cableway climbs to about 2,500 metres, and the area of the summit craters, near 2,920 metres, can be reached from its upper station. On the north side, Piano Provenzana near Linguaglossa is a smaller ski area. The Circumetnea narrow-gauge railway, built between 1889 and 1895, runs in a 110 km semicircle around the volcano from Catania to Riposto.
Getting there
Catania-Fontanarossa Airport (CTA) is about 32 km from the summit; the nearest town to the peak is Belpasso, about 18 km away, and the city of Catania lies at the volcano's southern foot.
Plan your visit
We have no confirmed visit data yet. Once it is confirmed, this block also carries the date it was checked.
Nearby places
- Hundred-Horse Chestnut 12.2 km · remarkable-tree
- Alcantara Gorges 21.4 km · gorge
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Mount Etna, or simply Etna, is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina and Catania. It is located above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is one of the tallest active volcanoes in Europe, and the tallest peak in Italy south of the Alps with a current height of 3,403 m (11,165 ft), though this varies with summit eruptions. For instance, in 2021 the southeastern crater reached a height of 3,357 m (11,014 ft), but was then surpassed by the Voragine crater after the summer 2024 eruptions.
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