- Mount Etna is an Active Volcano in eastern Sicily, near Messina and Catania.
- It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Nature Reserve.
Description
- Mount Etna is 10,990 ft high (3,350m) and is the highest mountain in Italy that is south of the Alps, and the highest active volcano in Europe. Mount Teide in the Canary Islands, is taller at 12,198 feet (3,718 m), but geologically it is located in Africa.
Greek Mythology
- Mount Etna was considered a sacred mountain in Greek Mythology, second to Mount Olympus in Greece.
- Vulcan, the God of Fire, Haephestus to the Greeks, had his workshop under the Volcano.
- Zeus trapped the monster Typhon, by throwing Mount Etna onto him and permanently trapping him underneath it.
Recorded Eruptions
- 425 BCE Diodorus Siculus (60-30 BCE) wrote that this was the first recorded eruption of Mount Etna.
- 396 BCE Another eruption occurred during the Second Sicilian War which prevented the Carthaginians taking Syracuse.
Oldest Chestnut Tree in the World
- The Hundred Horse Chestnut is the oldest chestnut tree in the world estimated between 2-4,000 years old, 5 miles (8km) east of Mt. Etna’s centre.
Active Volcanoes
- Hekla, Iceland.
- Krakatoa, Indonesia.
- Mauna Loa, Hawaii
- Mount Etna, Italy.
- Mount Vesuvius, Italy.
- Mount Teide, Tenerife, Spain.
- Stromboli, Aeolian Islands, Italy.
- Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy.
Mount Etna, Sicily: