Mount Etna

Etna is the largest of Italy’s four active volcanoes, about two and a half times the height of Vesuvius. Its summit is never the same for long: 10,741 ft in 1900, 10,912 ft in 1950, 11,014 ft in 2021 and 11,165 ft after the paroxysms of 2024.

Mongibello, Typhon and a forge under the mountain

Sicilians call it Muncibbeḍḍu, Italians Mongibello. The name Etna may come from the Greek aíthō, to burn, or from a Phoenician word for a furnace. Myth gave it two tenants:

• the forge of Hephaestus, Vulcan to the Romans;
• the monster Typhon, trapped under the mountain by Zeus.

Lava that reached Catania and buried the observatory

Etna’s eruptions have been recorded for at least 2,700 years, one of the longest historical series in the world. Some of them reshaped the visit itself:

1. 1669: the most destructive eruption since 122 BCE; the lava destroys at least ten villages and reaches Catania in five weeks.
2. 1971: lava buries the Etna observatory and destroys the first cable car.
3. 1983: it destroys the cable car again, with ski runs and the SP 92 road.
4. 2001 and 2002-2003: flows destroy part of the Etna Sud station around Rifugio Sapienza, then the Piano Provenzana station on the north-east side.

On the eastern flank, the Valle del Bove, a vast depression left by a flank collapse thousands of years ago, is what the park calls a window on the volcano’s history.

The 2026 eruption and the state of the volcano

From 6 August 2026, activity intensified with successive lava fountains:

• four vents opened in the Valle del Bove, with flows down to about 4,265 ft;
• by mid-August, Strombolian activity resumed at the Voragine;
• the INGV bulletin of 13 October 2026 reported variable degassing, discontinuous ash from the North-East Crater, low seismicity and low volcanic tremor.
• on 12 October 2026, the regional civil protection raised the alarm phase for about 11 hours, then restored the pre-alarm the same day.

The INGV does not rule out a rapid shift towards eruption columns and pyroclastic flows. Its ETNAS rapid alert system, operational since 1 April 2022, watches for lava fountains and magma intrusions.

Safety: zones, ordinances and guides

The rules on the summit come from the municipalities, the regional civil protection and the INGV, not from a single park page. Two zones matter:

• the summit zone: the summit craters, the upper Valle del Bove down to 5,577 ft and everything above about 8,202 ft on the south, west and north sides;
• the Permanent Danger Zone, which contains the active craters and is regulated whatever the state of the volcano.

Twelve municipalities, from Adrano and Bronte to Nicolosi and Zafferana Etnea, publish their own ordinances, several dated July and August 2026. Guides must brief walkers on the risks, in English too, collect a signed waiver, supply a helmet if needed and stay in radio contact. Check the current phase with the regional civil protection before going up.

At 20 October 2026 the phase is pre-alarm (restored on 20 August 2026, and again on 12 October after an alarm of about 11 hours) and the Permanent Danger Zone is closed to everyone. The ETNAS levels (F0, F1, F2) measure the volcano’s activity, whereas the phases (attention, pre-alarm, alarm) are set by the civil protection: a return to level F0 does not end the pre-alarm.