EXCURSIONS TO MOUNT ETNA

Are you planning to make excursions to Etna? After a long period during which there were certain limits for visits to the upper portions of Mount Etna, it is now possible to visit nearly any spot on the volcano, although it is recommended to make excursions only in groups accompanied by expert mountain guides. Anybody wishing to explore Etna on her/his own will have to hike the whole way, because only round trip tickets are sold for the cable-car and excursion jeeps on both sides (south and north) of the volcano. Visitors are allowed to approach the site of the current (September 2004) eruption only if accompanied by authorized mountain guides. Last but not least, no excursions should be made during unstable or bad weather due to the risk of getting lost or being stricken by lightning (four deaths by lightning in five years bear grim testimony to this greatest risk that visitors of the volcano are exposed to).

The situation that visitors to Etna find in these days is that excursion business is fully functional on both sides of the volcano. On the northern flank, excursions in jeeps or for groups of hikers start at PIANO PROVENZANA, which is gradually recovering from the devastating effects of the 2002-2003 eruption. Piano Provenzana is reached from the town of Linguaglossa on Etna's northeast base, via the "Mareneve" road and the reconstructed access road to the tourist station. Reconstruction of a short section of the "Mareneve" road has begun in September 2004 and will allow access also from Fornazzo on the east flank. Excursions presently go up to Piano delle Concazze, at about 2700 m elevation, and include stops at the destroyed Piano Provenzana and the eruptive fissure that caused all the devastation at Piano Provenzana. Groups of hikers can organize excursions to the summit area, preferably with mountain guides. The price for a standard jeep tour is 38 Euro per person, and the trip is definitely worth this money, for it renders a comprehensive impression of the sites of the 2002 disaster, and furthermore provides an endless quantity of spectacular panoramic views over a landscape that is now even more varied than it was until 2002. There are still few tourist facilities at Piano Provenzana - one ticket desk for excursions, three huts containing souvenir shops, a bar, and a restaurant. Yet this is quite a step forward after the long period of stagnation following the destructive 2002-2003 eruption.

On the southern flank, the starting point for excursions is the tourist station "NICOLOSI NORD" (also known as Rifugio Sapienza area), which is reached either from Nicolosi on the south side of Etna, or Zafferana on the southeast side. Standard excursions start with the reconstructed cable-car and continue with jeeps up to about 2900 m elevation (price: 42 Euro per person), with a stop at the "Belvedere" lookout (which currently offers a view of the actively flowing lava in the Valle del Bove), and a visit to the new craters formed during the latest eruption, which nearly steal the show from the summit craters. To those who have been on Etna quite some time ago, but also those who knew the mountain well before the 2002-2003 eruption, the view of the place as it is now is overwhelming. The area between the Montagnola (about 2650 m) and the summit craters, which was once called "Piano del Lago" (Plain of the Lake), is now a true mountain range, with the large cones formed during the eruptions of the summer of 2001 and the winter of 2002-2003. And if the 2001 cone seemed big, then the two new ones of the 2002-2003 eruption are simply enormous. At least if you look at them from the south, where they rise up to 200 m above the former surface level. Fortunately (to both visitors and tourist operators) on the upslope (northern) side, they can be accessed surprisingly easily, for the low rim of the upper of these two craters rises only about 10 m above the surrounding surface. Footpaths are already well established, and large numbers of tourists are guided to the haunting world of the craters, which are still giving off certain quantities of sulfur-charged gas, especially after heavy rainfalls.

HOTEL PRICES
I am not able to show here the prices of all hotels in the Etna region, but there are some web pages with such information - many, unfortunately, only in Italian. Much valuable information is available (in English) on the home page of the Provincial Tourism Board of Catania (Azienda Provinciale di Turismo), and Sicilian.net promises "better organization of your vacation in Sicily", so give it a try. A few personal tips: on the south flank, close to the cable-car, the Hotel Corsaro offers fine rooms and good food, and a very friendly service (see one example). On the north flank, there are the wonderful chalet "Ragabo" and the nearby "Bruneck", lying in a dense pine forest but with a view to the summit of the volcano, and starting point to hikes to the very varied landscapes of this area of the volcano. If you come during the period September-October, the food menu includes fresh mushrooms from the flanks of the volcano, which are among the best things I've ever eaten in my life.

Renting of a bus with a local driver (of an enterprise I have already involved) may cost something like 1000-2000 Euro for three days, depending on the distances covered. This is a good offer, some enterprises have much higher prices.

If you are interested, contact me via e-mail at
behncke@unict.it or at bbehncke@yahoo.de

FastCounter by bcentral

Counting initiated on 9 January 2000

Copyright © Boris Behncke, "Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology"