Seismometers are instruments that record any vibrations in the Earth’s surface where they are installed, measuring the speed of oscillation and acceleration achieved by the ground. Old seismometers were very heavy, with a nib attached and, underneath, a paper roll firmly fixed to the ground. Mod...

Pit craters are circular depressions up to one hundred metres deep, which at first glance look like a classic volcanic crater. But, unlike the latter, there has never been any eruptive activity in the pit craters. In fact, they are formed by sinking due to a movement of magma in the area below. ...

In volcanology the caldera is a wide basin or depression, often occupied by a circular or elliptical lake formed by the accumulation of rainwater, created after the sinking of the magma chamber of a volcanic structure, caused by its partial emptying following a massive eruption. The formation of a ...

In 1800, some attempts were made to create a stable structure at a high altitude, from which Etna’s volcanological phenomena could be observed. It was inspired by the eruption of 1923, which convinced the authorities of the quality of the initiative proposed by Gaetano Ponte, Professor of Volcanol...

Once in the square where the Val Calanna begins, besides a fountain and a drinking trough for grazing animals, there is a votive shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Providence, erected in 1992 by the inhabitants of Zafferana. They came to this place in procession, to ask that their town be saved from th...

Mount Calanna is a small portion of a much larger volcanic system that developed between 130 and 110,000 years ago. It is currently believed that this is the first central volcanic structure after the phase of the Timpe, with displacement of the eruptive mouths inland, specifically towards the curre...

The Valle del Bove is a large valley that covers the entire eastern flank of Mount Etna. Its name comes from the shape of its edges, which resemble an ox hoof (bove means ox in Italian). Formed between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago, in the last 50 years the completely uninhabited Valle del Bove has be...

According to legend, Acireale is named after the young shepherd Acis, son of the god Pan, protector of mountains and woods. Acis was hopelessly in love with the beautiful Galatea, one of the fifty Nereids, the nymphs of the sea. But Galatea was also loved by Polyphemus, the cyclops who lived in th...

Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) was born in Sulmo in 43 BC. From a young age he began studying rhetoric after moving to Rome during the Augustan age, then devoted himself to poetry alongside the greatest writers of his time, in the circle of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus. Here he composed works that...

Wild fennel or timpa fennel is an endemic Mediterranean plant with the scientific name Foeniculum vulgare. It is an edible plant used in local and Sicilian cuisine in general. Its leaves can be found in pasta with sardines and pasta with fava beans, while the less tender parts are used in pickled pr...