Etna North Craters Tour

LAVA FLOW FROM 2002

At the ski facilities of Piano Provenzana, Etna North, at 1800 m altitude, is the starting point of our tour. Armed with water, sandwiches, camera and everything we recommended in the “Information” section, we set off.

Right at the beginning of the hike we see the incredible destructive power of a lava flow. A black river cuts through the slope in front of us, to the left and right of it the forest is still standing. We cross the lava flow of 2002 and thus find ourselves above the former tourist centre of Piano Provenzana, which was completely destroyed in 2002.

Then we meet the last pine trees of the Pineta Ragabo forest and some beech trees.

As soon as we leave the forest, we suddenly find ourselves in the middle of a lunar landscape. Between huge lava fields and lava bombs in various shades of black and red, we feel like we are on Mars.

Slowly, as we approach the craters, the rough, reddish surfaces of the lava flows give way to the rounded surfaces of the lava bombs scattered across the landscape like remnants of a war.

ALONG THE NORTH-EAST RIFT

We visit the extraordinary fracture of the 1923 eruption, where the lava reached Linguaglossa in only 8 days.

We follow this exciting trail, which, although not at high altitude, follows an extremely vivid piece of the North-East Rift – or Pernicana Fault. This is one of Etna’s largest faults and causes displacements in the order of 2 to 4 cm every year.

Here, too, we see how varied Etna is: while a sea of flowers already blooms on the old lava, the new lava pushes black and abruptly over it.

CRATERS FROM 2002

We hike up to the top of the largest craters from the 2002 eruption. These imposing, huge lateral craters formed in just 10 days!

From here we can see that originally several lava flows were moving in different directions. But then they gradually came to a halt, all except one, which inexorably moved on at a remarkable speed for another 10 km, stopping only 5 km before Linguaglossa.

As we go back down, the lava river “surges” beside us, resembling not a river but a stormy, roiling sea with huge waves.

ROBBER’S CAVE

By car, it is now a few minutes’ drive to a lava tunnel, a cave formed during an eruption. There are about 190 known lava tunnels all over Etna, the Grotta dei Ladroni or Grotta della neve has a particularly varied history.
Inside the cave, we realise what the glowing lava can create as it flows through this tunnel: we discover stalactites (called dog’s teeth), bubbles (blisters), lava tubes, …

Until the next adventure!