The low, horseshoe-shaped cone of Monte Mezzaluna rises from a densely forested area on the northern flank of Monte Rosso, an older and much larger pyroclastic cone. The poor vegetation on this cone and the associated lava field indicates that both formed quite recently, and many sources ascribe them to the 1763 eruption that formed Monte Nuovo, about 1 km further downslope to the west. However, the composition of Monte Mezzaluna and its lavas is different from that of the Monte Nuovo products. This photograph was taken from the northeastern flank of Monte Rosso in September 2003

Mamma Etna's countless children
Monte Mezzaluna
W flank, 14.93562° E, 37.74802° N
Summit elevation: 1755 m

Monte Mezzaluna, the "half-moon mountain", has until recently been attributed to the same eruption in February-March 1763 that also produced the larger Monte Nuovo cone, about 1 km further to the west. However, palaeomagnetic measurements on the lava flows emitted from Monte Mezzaluna (Tanguy et al., 2003) show that the composition of these lavas differs from those of Monte Nuovo, and thus it is likely that it was produced during another eruption. The age of this eruption is not known but probably it occurred quite recently, judging from the youthful shape and vegetation of the cone and the associated lava field. Yet, in the light of the most recent flank eruptions of Mount Etna, in 2001 and 2002-2003, it is not all that unrealistic that a single eruptive event produces two different types of magma, and thus the question about a participation of Monte Mezzaluna in the 1763 eruption remains open.
Monte Mezzaluna is a horseshoe-shaped, small (about 50 m high) cone leaning against the NNW flank of the much larger and considerably older Monte Rosso. Its single crater is wide open to the W, where a relatively small quantity of lava has spilled out for a distance of about 1 km. Two other lobes of lava, 0.7 and 0.35 km long, respectively, have extended from the northern side of the cone, possibly in an early stage of its activity, when the cone had not yet grown to its final dimensions. A single pine tree has grown exactly in the center of the crater where it is relatively protected from the frequently violent winds blowing in the area.
I visited and climbed Monte Mezzaluna in April 1997, when most of the photographs shown on this page were taken; however, the lighting conditions were unfavorable (partially due to very sharp contrasts when I already used a high-contrast film) and the quality of the photographs is unusually low.

Left: the low cone of Monte Mezzaluna seen from east in April 1997. On its south (left) side, the cone leans against the lower, snow-covered north flank of the adjacent, much larger and older Monte Rosso Center: southern crater rim of Monte Mezzaluna from south in April 1997. Note the single pine tree standing in the lower portion of the crater wall. The snow-covered flank of Etna's main edifice is seen in right background, and the cone seen in the distance at left is Monte Maletto. Photo taken in April 1997 Right: a look down into the crater of Monte Mezzaluna from its southeast rim in April 1997, showing the open west side of the crater from where a small lava flow extended for about 1 km downslope, in the direction of the symmetrical cone of Monte Nuovo (background). The single pine tree is seen in lower right corner. The Monti Di Fiore, formed in 1974, are seen in left background, and Monte Minardo is visible in the distance

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