mount etna Archives

Valle del Bove, from oxen to goats

Posted on 03/02/2025 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

Valle del Bove (the Ox Valley) is a landscape that everyone knows and everyone loves. It is that large depression that opens on the eastern flank of Mount Etna, the result of an ancient collapse (or landslide) dating over 60,000 years ago, when the primitive volcanic building of Etna – called Mt Trifoglietto – collapsed […]

Respect the rules: on the mountains and on volcanoes

Posted on 27/01/2025 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

Here we are again. Talking again about mountain accidents, counting the victims again (two deaths) on a normal Sunday like many others. Sometimes we get discouraged, because it seems like we are repeating things to the wind. If respecting the rules and laws is fundamental in common civilization, it is even more so when you […]

A Pidata du Diavolo, the Devil’s Footprint

Posted on 20/01/2025 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

There is a Mount Etna that is little known to tourists, and it is the one linked to ancient legends. Because before the natural spectacle of the eruptions and even before the Christian devotional tradition, the territory of our volcano was the heart of ancient tales. Every culture has left its own and many are […]

Volcanoes and mandarins: the Holy Cribs of Etna

Posted on 23/12/2024 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

The making of nativity scene (Holy Crib) is a very ancient tradition in Sicily. One of the classic traditions that has remained most alive, ever, even resisting the “invasion” of Santa Claus and the famous Christmas tree. Once upon a time, for Sicilians, the Holy Crib was the center of the Christmas celebration – as […]

Fire celebration on Etna: St Barbara

Posted on 02/12/2024 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

The feast of St. Barbara is important for the Etna territory because it is linked to fire, as is the memory of another saint (connected to light) Lucia. And although the patron saint of the Catania territory, and therefore also of the volcano, is actually St Agatha, St Barbara is addressed when asking for protection […]