Europe's highest active volcano — lava vineyards and views from the crater rim
Mount Etna dominates northeastern Sicily and is Europe's highest and most active volcano, erupting with dramatic regularity. Cable cars and 4WD jeeps ascend to the 3,329m summit craters, where the smell of sulfur mixes with views across the entire island to the Aeolian Islands and Calabrian coast. The lower slopes are covered with pistachio groves, hazelnut orchards, and volcanic-soil vineyards producing some of Italy's most distinctive wines — Nerello Mascalese grown in black lava at altitude. The towns of Taormina and Catania sit at its foot, living comfortably in the shadow of a mountain t…
Etna has been erupting for at least 500,000 years and has been historically documented since ancient Greek colonization of Sicily in the 8th century BCE. The Greeks believed it was the forge of Hephaestus, god of fire, and Virgil described its eruptions in the Aeneid. The 1669 eruption remains one of Europe's most destructive — lava reached the sea, destroyed 15 villages, and breached Catania's walls. Etna's lava soil is exceptionally fertile: the ancient Greeks planted vineyards within sight of the summit craters, a tradition that continues today in some of Italy's most prized wine appellati…