Dwarf among Etna's flank cones, Monte Leone formed during a two days-long eruption in March 1883, which ranks among the smallest eruptions ever observed at this volcano. Rising only about 15 m above the surrounding area, this tiny cone barely escaped from being buried by the largest lava flow of the 2001 eruption - this flow passed about 50 m to the west, more or less in the spot from where this photo was taken on 10 May 2000

Mamma Etna's countless children
Monte Leone (1883 eruption)
S flank, 14.999736° E, 37.657096° N
Summit elevation: 1099 m

During the second half of March 1883, an impressive seismic crisis affected the eastern, southern and southwestern flanks of Mount Etna. Two days after the onset of the crisis, on 22 March 1883, an enormous but non-eruptive fracture system started to open at the summit and rapidly propagated down the south flank to an elevation of about 1000-1100 m, where a short eruptive fissure became active. This dramatic succession of events aroused fears in the population of Nicolosi, located about 5 km further downslope to the southeast, because the devastating 1669 eruption had begun in a similar (though much more violent) manner. In 1883, however, things took a very different course. In contrast to the 1669 eruption, which was the second largest historical flank eruption of Etna, the 1883 eruption was to become the smallest historical flank eruption of the volcano. Eruptive activity continued for only two days and produced a small lava flow about 250 m long and a series of small cones, the largest of which was given an impressive name: Monte Leone, mountain of the lion. Three years later, another eruption occurred higher upslope (at Monte Gemmellaro) and this time Nicolosi was seriously threatened by a lava flow.
The site of the 1883 eruption lies in a somewhat deserted area, in an "island" (kipuka) surrounded by lavas of the 1892 eruption of the Monti Silvestri, and once more invaded by a lava flow during the 2001 eruption. Already before that latest eruption, the small pyroclastic cones of Monte Leone were so unconspicuous that it was not all that easy to find them; the 2001 lava flow buried much of the access paths and thus Monte Leone is now more isolated than before. The main cone of the cluster rises barely 15 m above its base, and a still smaller cone lies at its southern base. Bushes and small trees grow on the cones and within their small craters. The 2001 lava flow passed only about 50 m to the west of these cones and for several days threatened to bury them.
I visited and climbed Monte S. Leo on 22 April 2000, when most of these photographs were taken.

Theater of the tiny 1883 eruption, the cluster of little more than microscopic cones around Monte Leone is seen in these photographs taken on 10 May 2000, when fresh green was exploding all over the place. Left image is a view across the northern part of the small main vent of Monte Leone to the west (Monte Rinazzi is the cone in the background). The olive green valley between Monte Leone and Monte Rinazzi was filled by a thick and broad lava flow during the 2001 eruption, which passed only about 50 m to the west of Monte Leone. Center and right images show the second largest vent on the short eruptive fissure of the 1883 eruption, looking south and northeast, respectively. In the right photo, the main cone of Monte Leone is seen in the background

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