There are people who remain impressed in your mind for the energy they emanate. Salvatore (Salvo) Caffo has been one of these people, ever since he worked as a volcanologist manager at Parco dell’Etna … while simultaneously actively educating and working in the Etna area. A job, the one at at Park of Etna, that Dr. Caffo has always felt fully, and lived with passion. In fact, it was thanks to his work – and that of his colleagues of the Park’s UNESCO Staff – that Mount Etna managed to fully enter the UNESCO World Heritage, a prestigious international recognition, obtained with great sacrifice. And if at first glance, Dr. Caffo may seem too direct, his depth of thought stimulates curiosity to those who want to know him more closely. This is why we interviewed him for you today.

Why at a certain point in your life did you decide to become a geologist/volcanologist?

As a child I had a great privilege: listening to the great international scientist Prof. Alfred Rittmann while he told fantastic stories about Sicily, Etna, the Volcanoes of the Rift Valley in East Africa, during the fitting of the shoes that my father made for him, in the shop-store, in Piazza G. Verga in Catania, where I spent my childhood.

I anxiously awaited that that very elegant gentleman and his splendid wife, came to visit us so that I could witness the ritual of the stories that he – with measured and measured words, but full of knowledge – explained to us, both with elementary culture, managing to fuel in us the passion for Geography, Etna and above all for Geology and Volcanology.

In 1971, during the lateral eruption over the town of Fornazzo, I secretly followed Professor Rittmann, without my parents knowing! Though I was only 11, I took the bus to Zafferana Etnea, and once I got there I put my backpack on my shoulder and set off for Fornazzo hamlet and at the bend before Petrulli, someone offered me a car ride and then dropped me off at the square in Milo. From there I continued on foot following the people, hoping to spot Professor Rittmann who, instead, was on the eruption place. When I saw the lava flow … it was high, not exactly how I imagined it… not just a river. It was thick, it created volume, it raised the level by dozens of meters and crushed everything, even the road to Linguaglossa. I stood still watching what never ever imagined. I smelled the drying steam of the flow, I listened to the sound of the slow, broken advance of glassy rolling boulders.

That evening of May 8, 1971, allowed me to find my path and the life that would come from it.

What influenced your education?

I spent my school and university years going around with my friends on excursions to Mount Etna and learning to know this extraordinary territory and above all to overcome the fear of being alone and far from home. Some of them, members of the Alpine Club, introduced me to the world of speleology which I practiced for years. The experiences gained during the course of studies in Geological Sciences, the surveys, the chemical and mineral-petrographic analyses accustomed me to the rigor and complexity of the application of mathematical, physical and chemical Laws in the study of Earth Sciences and consequently to the importance of quantity as well as quality when discussing Science.

Since I was a university student, I felt the need to convey the emotions that Prof. Rittmann had given me and it was almost natural to study Geological Sciences, obtain a PhD in Magmatic Petrology, become a professor of Natural Sciences and finally a Volcanologist at the Etna Park. Now I am a research associate at the Etna Observatory of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology: what a nemesis! Now I tell the world we live in, seeking emotional involvement in dealing with scientific topics that characterize our daily lives and are fundamental for a correct relationship between Man and Nature.

What do you love most about your job and what do you love least?

First of all, I love the possibility of having been able to deepen my passions and my curiosities. Then also the possibility of being able to go around in nature, the essence of this profession, and in this sense even now to be able to continue doing it, I keep myself physically fit. I love being able to collect rocks and then dissect them in the laboratory and study them under the microscope … analyze them. In a word I would say, the study of Geology and the specialization in volcanology have allowed me to learn how to answer the many questions that I asked myself as a young man about the genesis and evolution of Etna and its geological landscape. Obviously there are other things that I like such as having learned what it means to be “ignorant” and have many doubts to unravel.
I don’t like how this subject is taught in universities now, I don’t like that in high schools the physical geography and geology of our planet are not studied in depth. But what displeases me most is the lack of respect towards young people who approach this wonderful science and have to settle for doing something else in a country that presents all types of natural and anthropic risks.

The role of the geologist is very important, right?

Of course. Here, the presence of the geologist could avoid enormous economic damage and above all could help save human lives through a careful policy of land management. Especially in small mountain and piedmont villages – where the natural balance has been profoundly altered through senseless policies aiming at the creation of infrastructures and related services – a geologist can remind how to take into account the fragility of the territory.

The experience at the Park of Etna: can you describe it in just 3 words?

If I had to describe my experience at the Park of Etna with just three words I would say: Opportunity, Responsibility, Satisfaction.

In your opinion, what should be improved in the management of the Park and who should do it?

As incredible as it may seem to most, the Park of Etna would need a few but fundamental things. First of all, the presence of a Park Authority supervisory body reporting directly to the Director as already foreseen by the Park’s Establishing Decree (D.P.R.S. n. 37/1987) and which provided for 70 Park guards, 15 Surveillance Inspectors and 7 Area Leaders (never included in the staff despite the competitions and medical visits having been carried out). It seems redundant to say that after almost 40 years, at least double would be needed, equipped with all the tools and means necessary to repress and mitigate the damage that hundreds of thousands of visitors and users cause through a use that is not exactly compatible with the territory. Secondly, the adaptation of the staff (currently there are 20 and all the naturalistic figures are missing)  made up of young graduates, specialized and knowledgeable about Etna. They should all be able to speak and write in English. Obviously, engineers, surveyors, workers, IT technicians would be needed… Third thing to change, the regulations as a whole, adapting them to the changed laws of land management, to the use in a highly anthropized environment, to the containment of soil impoverishment, to forest management, to agriculture and to the production of excellent products both fruit and wine and to the type of activities that now develop in the territory but without adequate controls.

For all this, I personally would have long ago merged the Etna Park Authority with the State Forest Company in the Etna area and with the Forest Rangers Corps to which environmental police tasks should be assigned with an adequate number of agents, inspectors, commissioners with functions also supporting the park guards. Obviously, given that we are talking about a regional park, Region Sicily should do it through targeted laws. If we then consider that a park without physical and especially human resources is no longer able to fully carry out the reason for its institution, even in this case, a non-superficial but careful observation would make us understand that the self-denial or talent of a few is not enough. But a team of competent and motivated people is needed.

Last but not least, the creation of spaces that can be used only and exclusively for activities with a high environmental impact for the performance of particular Competitions appears to be important and above all, general states would be needed in which it is possible to decide what to do with a park of global environmental and geological importance that is slowly slipping into social oblivion in the absence of the fundamental figures. Which are: Botanist, Geologist, Volcanologist, Naturalist, Forester, Naturalistic Engineer, Environmental Architect.

Is it possible to reconcile the life of a geologist with family life?

As in many professions (I am thinking of surgeons, airplane, train and helicopter pilots, rescuers, law enforcement, military personnel, firefighters, shift workers in many disciplines… ) there are women and men who carry out these important jobs with a great social impact who manage to form families and have children. Without wanting to go into specifics, it also depends on how society considers these workers and consequently what it does to help them on a daily basis and in general. Let’s not forget that many jobs require study and/or a lot of application and self-denial and would require first of all social consideration and then that of the institutions. However… being able to do what you have always wanted allows us to be even happier and consequently to be able to have a united and supportive family.

What does Etna mean to you?

Etna means trips outside Catania, together with my parents and my sister and – as long as she was able to – with my maternal grandmother too! So, it means family. It means excursions in search of caves together with friends of the CAI Caves Group and subsequent exercises inside the rheo-genetic cavities. It means volcanic eruptions and nights out, it means shelters and adventures inside the Valle del Bove … . For me, personally, it also means my graduation thesis, scientific research, tests for robots to be sent to Mars or the Moon, walks and runs, paths with many people. In one word: real friends.

Advice to a kid who wants to be a geologist when he/she grows up?

You see, my generation had an immense curiosity about the world, which was not afraid of. Instead, now it is difficult to suggest to a girl or a boy – always on their cell phone and connected to the world – what to do.

Given that it depends on each of us, I would say that a lot also comes from the family, habits, culture, passions of parents and above all from truly capable teachers. It is no coincidence that the so-called hard Sciences have been going through a severe crisis for quite some time and that fewer and fewer are enrolling in Physics or Geology and even fewer are specializing or obtaining a university research doctorate.

Personally, I would say to young people today: be passionate! Yes, be passionate about the natural elements: Air, Water, Earth and Fire and about Nature Sensu Latu.