Mount Etna is Italy's largest and tallest volcano. (Photo: Sicile Etna image by HervÃ© Dupraz from Fotolia.com )
Mount Etna is one of the world’s most famous volcanoes--and one of its most energetic. A signal landmark of the Italian island of Sicily, the peak not only supplies frequent geologic drama but also fertile soils for agriculture and dramatic scenery for the cities and villages in its shadow.
The volcano stands in northeastern Sicily near the coast of the Ionian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean. Significant human settlement lies in proximity, including the city of Catania, which has been affected both by Etna eruptions and earthquakes in the past.
At around 10,900 feet, Etna is the tallest and, with a volume of some 84 square miles, most massive of Italy’s volcanoes, which also include Mount Vesuvius and Stromboli. The modern peak is a complex of different cones, craters and calderas (collapsed craters), and has been described by the USGS as a stratovolcano--one built by alternating layers of volcanic material and lava--sitting atop an older shield volcano. Such a substantial mountain lying near a seacoast has a marked influence on local weather. In "Mount Etna: The Anatomy of a Volcano" (1985), Chester et al. report that the mean rate for temperature reduction as one ascends the volcano is over 40 degrees for every 3,300 feet or so. Etna’s eastern face tends to be cooler than its western one, partly because of heavier clouds induced by the marine influence and the volcano’s own plume.
Mount Etna is one of the most active of the world’s volcanoes, and also has the distinction of having the earliest documented eruption, in around 1500 BC. Different eruptive patterns have continued with regularity to the present day. In 2002 and 2003, according to the geologist Boris Behncke on his Italian Volcanoes website, the volcano produced some of its most powerful flank eruptions of recent centuries, spewing over a billion cubic feet of lava. Such flank eruptions alternate with more frequent explosions in the mountain’s summit craters.
Mount Etna is one of 16 “Decade Volcanoes,” a collection of volcanic peaks under particularly close scrutiny due to their eruptive nature and nearness to significant human populations. Others in this grouping include Mexico’s 14,170-foot Colima Volcano and massive, 14,410-foot Mount Rainier in Washington’s Cascade Range.
One of the best ways to appreciate the volcano, which is visible from a broad surrounding area, is to explore the Mount Etna Nature Park. After all, there’s more to the mountain than its fiery crown: woodlands of beech, oak, chestnut, pine and birch cloak its flanks, and a variety of wildlife, from skittering lizards to quiet red foxes, find refuge here. Indeed, the forests of Mount Etna are some of the most extensive remaining on Sicily. A variety of hiking routes traverse the summit and its vicinity. Nearby scenic attractions include the gorge of the Alcantara River north of Etna, burrowed through volcanic rock.
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