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South East Crater and how it changed in time

Posted on 09/08/2021 (21/12/2024) by Grazia Musumeci

Our excursions “to the summit craters” of Etna for two years now have to deal with the angry reactions of the new landlord: the South East Crater, better known by the English acronym SEC. What was once a tiring but fascinating trip, always within safe limits, has now become a rare event. Because it is […]

Etna, powerful eruption on August 9

Posted on 09/08/2021 (21/12/2024) by Grazia Musumeci

Etna explodes almost without warning at dawn on August 9, 2021, after almost 24 hours of “push and pull”. Tremors rising, falling, rising again, impending eruptions and new changes. On the night of Sunday 8th August everyone went to sleep convinced that the event was postponed. Then something happened after 2 in the morning. First […]

Discovering Riposto and “Mt Etna’s beaches”

Posted on 02/08/2021 (20/12/2024) by Grazia Musumeci

For a long time the main tourist “gates” to Mount Etna were Catania – with its airport and station – and Taormina. The large tourist crowds settled in these two locations so to discover Etna by excursions. It has been twenty years, now, since also Riposto has joined them as a tourist gate to Etna, […]

How do people live near an active volcano?

Posted on 26/07/2021 (20/12/2024) by Grazia Musumeci

They ask us, all the time. Out relatives from abroad, our friends who never came to visit us, those who look at our photos or read the news. Mount Etna erupts, Stromboli explodes, Vulcano has sulfur steams, Vesuvius sometimes makes the ground shake. How can we do that? How can we live near an active […]

Once upon a time, the Gino Menza Refuge

Posted on 19/07/2021 (20/12/2024) by Grazia Musumeci

Once upon a time there was Gino Menza Refuge … a small alpine hut in the “belly” of an active volcano. A fairy tale that ended under meters and meters of lava, which brought with it memories of a whole era. Because once Etna was not as we know it today. It was always active, […]