Like an island lost in a sea of more recent lava flows, the irregular cone of Monte Arcimis rises a few tens of meters above the relatively uniform landscape on the middle southeast flank of Etna. Two craters are visible, a smaller one on the near side of the cone, and a larger one, of which only the rim can be identified, behind it. The more regularly shaped cone behind Monte Arcimis is Monte Ilice near the village of Fleri, and several bends of the road leading from Zafferana to the Rifugio Sapienza area can be seen in the foreground. This view is from the southern crest of the Valle del Bove at the head of the valley known as "Acqua della Rocca", about 2.8 km to the northwest. Photo taken on the evening of 5 May 2000, with the low-standing sun emphasizing details of the relief. Shortly after this photo was taken, a heavy rain of scoriaceous lapilli from one of the countless lava fountains of the Southeast Crater forced us (Giuseppe Scarpinati and me) to rush down through the "Acqua della Rocca" valley to find shelter in Scarpinati's car

Mamma Etna's countless children
Monte Arcimis
SE flank, 15.063314° E, 37.689178° N
summit elevation: 1269 m

Lying in a wasteland of poorly vegetated lavas erupted during a large eruption in 1792-1793, Monte Arcimis is an irregularly shaped, densely forested cone with two craters of unknown but presumably quite old age. A larger crater, about 180 m across and up to 50 m deep, lies in the central-southern portion of the cone, and a smaller crater, about 120 m wide, lies in its northern part. The north rim of the smaller crater lies just a few meters above the surface of the 1792-1793 lava field, but the highest point of the cone, on the northeast rim of the larger crater, rises several tens of meters higher. Like many other flank cones of Etna, Monte Arcimis lies on a scarp cutting the otherwise quite monotonous slope in this area, and therefore its relative height varies from about 20 m on its western side to nearly 100 m on its southeast side.
I have passed dozens of times near Monte Arcimis, but never stopped to visit it, and the only photograph that shows appreciable detail (above) was taken in May 2000 from nearly 3 km away.

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Copyright © Boris Behncke, "Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology"