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Are volcanoes the gates of hell? For many centuries, this is how people and popular belief have considered them. A natural fear, given by the view of a mountain capable of spitting fire from every crack. If you go back to study the mythology and history of the Mediterranean, you will find many myths linked to volcanoes – such as Etna and Stromboli – seen as “gates of hell”. Even literature has exalted this aspect of the “mountains of fire”. And if this today, in the age of reason and science, makes you smile … it still adds charm to volcanoes.

Etna: from god to home of demons

volcanoes hell 2Ancient classical cultures identified Mount Etna as the home of a god, or rather “the laboratory” of a god. The god Vulcan, or Hephaestus. He was a giant blacksmith who forged weapons and tools for gods and humans in the fire and, according to tradition, it was inside Etna that he “struck his anvil” sending sparks into the sky. With the advent of Christianity, the figure of Hephaestus was replaced by Lucifer, the rebel angel and lord of the underworld. And through this door of the underworld passed several warrior knights of the Middle Ages (for example the Saracens or those of Arthur’s Round Table) and, in more recent times (16th century), Queen Elizabeth I of England. These were poorly tolerated by the church of all time and through this door they headed, according to the popes, towards their eternal punishment. Legend has it that the famous English queen, while falling into the Etna, lost a slipper. Today it is somewhere, in Bronte.

Hell passes through Stromboli

<<There is an island in the sea, not far from the blessed island of Zarathustra, on which a volcano smokes constantly; people say (and in particular women) that it is like a rock put in front of the gate of the underworld; through the volcano a narrow path descends that leads to that gate of the Hell.>>

This is what Nietzsche writes in his most famous work, Also Spoke Zarathustra. The philosopher had made a trip to Italy in 1882 and from his travel notes we understand that he had visited the Aeolian Islands. This volcano that leads to the underworld can only be Stromboli.

Even more explicit is the Calabrian legend linked to the sanctuary of St. Elias in Palmi. It is said that the saint, of Sicilian origin (he was a monk from Enna), decided to build a temple to the Lord on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria. But the devil wanted to prevent him at all costs and so he tempted him in every way. Unable to prevail, the devil finally presented himself in the form of a charcoal man carrying a basket full of gold. He offered it to Saint Elias in order to corrupt his soul, but the saint – after praying – waved his staff and threw the devil off a cliff directly into the sea. Defeated, he began to snort and smoke with rage… and so the island of Stromboli was born.

From Mount Sant’Elia, today, you can watch the spectacle of the sun setting inside the crater of Stromboli twice a year.

Vulcano, island of the dead

Even though small, low and not very showy in its manifestations, Vulcano is very important. It is precisely from this… volcano, in fact, that the name that today characterizes all mountains of fire was taken. The island formed by this volcano, which today mostly emits sulfur fumes and hot mud, was anciently known as “the place of the dead”.

Its ancient name was Hiera (ancient Greek ????, meaning “sacred offering, sacrifice, victim”), because sacrifices were made to the gods here – perhaps even human sacrifices! It is also said that for centuries, corpses from all over the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily were thrown into the crater of Vulcano. Fire and sulfur, in fact, were symbols of purification for good souls and damnation for cruel souls. There is no concrete evidence of these rituals, only ancient legends that are now almost forgotten. But that does not mean that they never happened. It may be that the dead buried in soil acidified by volcanism were consumed so quickly that they did not even leave any fossils! (PHOTOS G MUSUMECI)


Autore: Grazia Musumeci


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