"Etna, the Mongibello"
Etna is a volcanic complex in Sicily and is the highest active volcano on the Eurasian plate (3326 meters). It is located on the eastern coast of Sicily, in the province of Catania. Several times in the course of human history, the frequent eruptions of Etna have changed the surrounding landscape, sometimes even profoundly, even threatening the populations around it.
Despite this, Etna is an uninterrupted destination for tourist visits, being one of the few active volcanoes in the world to be easily accessible.
The volcanic peculiarity, characterized by sudden phenomena, such as tremors and earthquakes, pyroclastic and effusive activities as well as the association with fire, have given rise over time to the idea that it was a divine abode. For this reason it is possible to find sanctuaries and places of worship (such as the one dedicated to the god Adranos, father of the Palici) on the slopes and in the steepest hills.
Etna is also the subject of various Greek myths, which tried to explain its volcanic activity. It was thought for example that the giant Enceladus, defeated by Athena and buried under the earth. His body would have flattened out, forming Sicily and his mouth, placed under Etna, would spit fire at every cry of the giant.
Or that the god Aeolus, king of the winds, had imprisoned the winds under the caves of the volcano.
"The abode of Vulcano"
Vulcano, located on the homonymous island of the Aeolian archipelago north east of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The word "volcano" derives from the name of this mountain and the island, which in turn owe their name to the Roman god of fire, Vulcan. In fact, it was thought that it resided in these lands.
Formed due to the movement of the African plate, in a similar way to the remaining Italian volcanoes, Vulcano reaches an altitude of 386 meters. It rises like a hill in the center of the island, near Porto Levante. Here, the water and mud are heated by the sulfur dioxide produced by the weakest fumaroles of the volcano. The fumaroles also represent the only activity of the volcano after the last, violent, eruption that occurred between 1888 and 1890.
"Stromboli, explosive volcano"
land of volcanoes Stromboli is another active volcano that is part of the Aeolian archipelago. 926 meters high above sea level and with a depth between 1300 and 2400 meters below sea level, Stromboli has a persistent explosive activity, one of the most frequent in the world. Of explosive origin, the eruptions occur with an average frequency of about one every hour. His constancy earned him the title of "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean".
In its most dangerous explosions, Strombolians tend to refer to the volcano with "Iddu", "he", almost as if to bring back the memory of divine nature, once recognized as uncontrollable natural phenomena.
It is even thought that the volcano originates from the Devil himself, enraged by the refusal of Elijah of Enna, a monk who retired on Mount Aulinas, who would have driven away the personified temptations. This refusal would have caused the Devil to regurgitate fire into the sea, thus generating the volcanic island.
