8 April, 2016

Looking Back at Etna

Driving up the Tyrannean coast in Calabria we continue to move further north away from Sicilia. On the two hours drive I think it is time to take a look at the last day in Sicilia and our visit to the volcano they call Mamma

On Monday in Catania we loaded into the large bus one last time and headed onto the motorway heading north. Near Giarre we headed away from the coast and up the valley towards the volcano. In Catania and along the eastern shore of Sicilia they call her “Mamma Etna” because she is the source of the fertile soils of the area. A shield volcano, she is not prone to violent and explosive eruptions. The summit continuously produces plumes of white steam, occasionally punctuated with a billowing cloud of black smoke from small explosions from the caldera. When she does erupt, it is usually from a smaller side vent that produce massive flows of lava. It is the area of the most recent flow that we visited on the north side of the mountain.

On our way up the mountain we stopped at a cafe/inn for a quick cappuccino. There are many of these places around the mountain allowing a hiker to make a trek of a week or more around the entire volcano.

Reaching the treeline and end of the flow from the eruption of 2002. There are several small gift shops here for tourists in the summer and skiers in the winter months. I knew about the skiing before we got to the mountain, but the ski lift over fields of jagged black lava still seemed out of place to this Rocky Mountain boy. Isabella said that in the winter this area gets two meters or more of snow. We hiked to see the remains of a hotel that was buried by the lava. All that is visible is the concrete structure of the roof.

As with many places on this tour, the stay seemed to quick, but such is the way with as busy of an itinerary as we have had. I tried to take in the environment with all of my senses – the sound of the wind through the trees, the smell of the forested air, the majestic summit that has towered over eastern Sicilia for millennia, and the shattered lava rock crunching under my feet as I walked the path. I gathered a few larger pieces for myself and a bag of smaller shatter to take home with me as a remembrance of this legendary mountain.

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One day if I return to Catania I will visit the mountain again and perhaps hike the trail around Mamma and get to know her energy better. For now, the introduction was enough to make this place real and a part of my world experience.

Arrivederci!