We know that the name “Etna” comes from an ancient Greek word “aithne” which means “heat, burn”. Today we know that an entire territory, almost as large as a province, takes its name from Etna, meaning not only our volcano but a community with very specific culture and traditions. People have often wondered if a city with this name has never existed. And why isn’t the largest city on Etna, Catania, called Etna?
Etna, an ancient city that really existed
According to a mix of legends and historical studies, a very ancient city called Etna – or rather, to be precise, Aitna-Inessa – really existed. Most likely it corresponded to the current town of Motta Sant’Anastasia, which not by chance stands on a “dike” (an old solidified lava conduit). In ancient times, the only road that connected the coast to the volcano passed right through here and the name of Aitna-Inessa was frequent in documents and in the speeches of travellers.
In the 5th century BC, it seems that there was already an important temple dedicated to the cult of the god Vulcan right in Aitna-Inessa. But it was the historian and geographer Strabo, born in 64 BC, one of the first to describe this mysterious city, telling of Empedocles’ journey to discover the volcano.
“Gives hospitality to those who climb the mountain …”
We read on the website ILPAPAVEROROSSOWEB.IT the exact words that Strabo used, when he says: “Near Centuripe there is the city of Etna, mentioned above; it welcomes those who ascend the mountain and provides them with guidance: for it is there that the summit region begins. […] Those who have recently ascended Etna have told me that they found on the summit a flat and uniform surface of about 20 stadia in circumference, with a rim of ash around it as high as a wall, […]. In the middle they saw a hill of ashen color like the surface of the plain and, above the hill, a perpendicular cloud that rose straight up to a height of 200 feet […] they were led to think that many of the stories told about Etna were mythical, and, especially, those which some relate about Empedocles, namely, that he had descended into the crater and had left, as a sign of the fact, one of the brass sandals that he was in the habit of wearing: for it was said to have been found not far from the rim of the crater, as if it had been thrown up by the force of the fire”.
More evidence of the existence of the city of Etna
Several chronicles found by historians tell of a city where people stopped before the great climb to the volcano. There they took food and equipment for the climb and performed rites and prayers to the gods. Not only to the god Vulcan, but also to Aphrodite (Venus). The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius himself offered sacrifices to the goddess in the “temple housed near the city of Etna“. And other citations from the 2nd century BC refer to this location, Etna, as a starting point for the volcano of the same name. Apparently Plato also attempted to climb the volcano, starting from the city of Etna and offering sacrifices for the success of the mission.
The city of Etna … today
Today this phantom city no longer exists. At least on paper. Perhaps some ancient discovery near Motta Santa Anastasia could directly connect the site to this name, but currently the name Etna refers only to the volcano.
Yet, perhaps today more than ever the city of Etna exists. And it is even a metropolis!
In fact, if the great Catania recognizes itself in the name “Etna capital”, the infinite quantity of municipalities that surround it forming an immense metropolitan area goes to embrace the entire body of the volcano. Without stopping, where one town ends another begins. And this incredible expanse of urbanized environments forms, in fact, “the Etna settlement” … a gigantic metropolis that recognizes itself in Etna! It does not matter where the inhabitants come from … they can be from Catania, citizens of Acireale, Giarre or Zafferana, but also from Bronte or Randazzo. Everyone will feel equally “people of Etna”. (PHOTOS BY G.MUSUMECI)