mount etna Archives

Mount Etna and the pride of being UNESCO Heritage

Posted on 22/06/2026 (22/06/2026) by Grazia Musumeci

June 21st should be a date to celebrate in Sicily. Or at least in the Catania area. In fact, on June 21, 2013—thirteen years ago— Mount Etna was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Those present at the proclamation describe an entire assembly standing up to applaud, and the applause lasted several minutes. The […]

Mystery on Mt Etna: who is the “lava man”?

Posted on 15/06/2026 by Grazia Musumeci

The Lava Man climbed anyway. Despite the warnings, the alerts, the doubts. He ascended and descended at the right times, without risking even a second. Just a couple of hours later, the crater of Etna cracked and collapsed right before his eyes, releasing a river of lively lava, heading downstream. What if he had been […]

Etna Castles 2: Motta St Anastasia

Posted on 09/06/2026 by Grazia Musumeci

Motta St Anastasia was built around a “volcanic neck”, a huge column of solidified magma that typically comes to light when the walls of an ancient volcanic conduit collapse. Here, we are just 35 km away from Mount Etna, and the eruption that created this “neck” is likely linked to the life of the great […]

Running the “vertical marathon” on Mount Etna

Posted on 01/06/2026 (03/06/2026) by Grazia Musumeci

Did you know that you can even run a marathon on a volcano? Nothing strange, you might say; it’s not the first time you’ve run in a mountain, and a volcano is a mountain – after all. But the one to be run on Mount Etna (scheduled for June 13th) isn’t your typical marathon: it’s […]

Morgantina: where shells are set in the mountains

Posted on 25/05/2026 by Grazia Musumeci

Once upon a time, there was Morgantina. And it’s still there, twenty centuries later… on the plateau in the heart of rural Sicily, where today fascinated tourists wander among its ruins. Crumbling red stones, remnants of pavements, columns, and, surprisingly, sparkling shells peeking out from every brick! Yes, because the center of Sicily is nothing […]