The Volcanic Mount Etna, A Fiery Tourist Attraction!

If you enjoy observing the forces of nature at work then a trip to see the volcanic Mount Etna in the Northeast of Sicily would be a fantastic addition to your Italian holiday! Mount Etna is the largest, widest, tallest and most active volcano in Europe and has been a huge tourist attraction since records began.

The Greeks and Romans closely observed this fiery mountain of Sicily and believed the regular eruptions to be the work of their gods! Standing at 3,350 metres, Etna has the traditional volcanic cone shape and has a massive base circumference of one hundred and forty kilometres.

Tourists wishing to see this magnificent volcano can stay in one of many exclusive villas in the Toarmina area nearby that are within a safe distance of the fiery mountain!

This fascinating place is almost perfectly preserved from human interference and is soon to become a World Heritage Site. The fertile ground surrounding it, thanks to the nourishing volcanic ash has resulted in a forest of olive trees, vineyards and other vegetation thriving here.

Visitors will learn all about the scientific, cultural and geological importance of Etna, including the fact that it was believed to have formed over half a million years ago because of friction between the European and African plates and its first major eruptions occurred around one hundred and fifty thousand years ago.

Although hard to believe, tourists can still see hot smoking lava from the major eruptions from as far back as 2001! There are plenty of excellent tours available where you will be brought up closer to the main crater in a cable car and taught all about the history of Mount Etna. There’s also a railway which can bring tourists on a journey of one hundred and ten kilometres around a semi circle of this gigantic volcano.

A spectacular time to see this majestic mountain is in winter, when smoke is hissing from the main crater with snow covering most of it. It’s a strange mixture of fire and ice but would make an excellent photograph. There are two ski resorts open here during the snow season; one at the Sapienza Refuge and one further north at Piano Provenza where visitors can enjoy the wonders of Mount Etna and have lots of fun skiing on its lower slopes!

This soon to be World Heritage Site is a wonderful place to come and enjoy a few days of your Italian holiday and why not click here to learn about other superb UNESCO sites in Italy that you could visit!