Mount Etna

Mount Etna, often called simply Etna, is an active stratovolcano on Sicily’s eastern coast, situated in the Metropolitan City of Catania between Messina and Catania. It sits above the convergent boundary where the African Plate meets the Eurasian Plate. As of September 2024, its summit stands at 3,403 meters (11,165 feet), making it the highest peak in Italy south of the Alps and one of Europe’s tallest active volcanoes. Its height shifts with summit eruptions: in 2021, the southeastern crater reached 3,357 meters (11,014 feet), only to be overtaken by the Voragine crater after eruptions in the summer of 2024.

The volcano covers 1,190 square kilometers (459 square miles) and has a basal circumference of 140 kilometers (87 miles). This makes it the largest of Italy’s four active volcanoes—roughly two and a half times the height of Mount Vesuvius, the next biggest. While many mountains in the European–North-African region west of the Black Sea, such as Mont Blanc, are taller, Mount Teide on Tenerife in the Canary Islands is the only taller volcano in that region.

Etna is among the most active volcanoes globally, with activity that is nearly continuous. The fertile volcanic soils from these eruptions support widespread agriculture, including vineyards and orchards on the lower slopes and across the Plain of Catania to the south. Because of its recent activity and proximity to populated areas, the United Nations designated it a Decade Volcano. In June 2013, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The name “Etna” may come from the Greek *αἴθω* (aíthō), meaning “to burn,” possibly through a shift in pronunciation from Ancient to Koine Greek. Another theory traces it to a Siculian or Sicanian dialect word (*aith-na*, “the fiery one”), from the Indo-European root *h₂eydʰ- (“to burn; fire”). Alternatively, it could derive from the Phoenician *attuna*, meaning “furnace” or “chimney.” In Classical Greek, it was called *Αἴτνη* (Aítnē), a name also given to Catania and the city originally known as Inessa. In Latin, it is *Aetna*, and in Arabic, *Jabal al-Nār* (جبل النار, “the Mountain of Fire”). In Roman and Greek mythology, the god of blacksmithing, Vulcan (or Hephaestus), had his forge beneath the mountain. Greek myth also says the monster Typhon was imprisoned there by Zeus.

Locally, it is known as *Muncibbeḍḍu* in Sicilian and *Mongibello* in Italian. Thi