Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe but don’t worry! It’s not dangerous. Just Beautiful!
On the eastern coast of Sicily – a short journey from the Strait of Messina – lies Mt. Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe and UNESCO World Heritage.
Through the centuries, its eruptions have shaped the volcano’s slopes, designing unique landscapes of lava and ice. The area is now an enormous nature reserve, full of walkable trails.
Climbing to the top, we can roam its changing topographies: from a fruitful countryside of sweet citrus groves to thick forests to bare terrain where the perfume of the broom shrub reigns, and, finally, the lunar atmosphere lying closer to the crater.
From higher altitudes, it is even possible to see Malta on a clear day.
If you are lucky enough to see an eruption at night, the sight of lavic rivers flowing slowly down the mountainside is truly wondrous.
The Bove Valley is equally-alluring; a huge natural amphitheatre whose walls are carved into deep canyons, its heights can reach up to 3,281 ft. Then, the ice cave Grotta del Gelo is an imposing volcanic cavity where the only perpetual glacier has ever formed at this latitude.
Talking about cycling… The Rifugio Sapienza climb was the finish of a great Giro d’Italia Stage won by the “Pistolero” Alberto Contador.
