Looming quietly above the village of the same name, the cone of Monterosso rises only about 50 m above the surrounding landscape, but it is the youngest of the many cones on the lower southeast flank of Mount Etna: the eruption that gave birth to it occurred in 1329. At that time the area was much less densely populated than it is now, yet the eruption caused great damage in the areas above the town of Acireale. Were a similar eruption to occur today in the same area, this would be a disaster of enormous proportions. Photograph was taken from south on 4 March 2004

Mamma Etna's countless children
Monterosso
SE flank, 15.096232° E, 37.648553° N
summit elevation: 595 m

The latest authentically documented eruption on the lower southeast flank of Mount Etna, according to historical sources, occurred in 1329 in an area dotted by numerous older pyroclastic cones, about 4.5 km south of the town of Zafferana. Although more recent reviews of the historical eruptions of Etna often cite an eruption in 1334 at the site now occupied by the village of Monterosso, the reviews of historical documents and palaeomagnetic studies carried out by Tanguy et al. (1999; 2003) have shown that this eruption actually occurred five years earlier. It formed a modest-sized, horseshoe-shaped cone that was named Monte Rosso (one of the most frequently used names for Etna's flank cones, which in this case might be truly due to the strongly oxidized, red scoriae of which the cone is composed). In addition, a large lava flow was poured out to the east, in the direction of Acireale. Contemporary eyewitness accounts describe the great terror experienced by the local population when, in late June 1329, strong earthquakes heralded the opening of a new vent higher upslope in the Valle del Bove, before, on 15 July 1329, the earth opened at Monterosso. Large amounts of ash were thrown out not only by the newly formed crater, but also by the summit crater, while lava advanced in three main branches toward Acireale and Catania. A vast area of forest and several small settlements were devastated by this eruption.
The source cone of the 1329 eruption, Monterosso, is now surrounded on its south and west sides by the village of the same name, a charming accumulation of small homes embedded in extensive gardens - except for a few examples of the locally common practice of illegal construction as shown in one of the photographs below. Like all the villages surrounding the town of Zafferana, Monterosso boasts with the production of local honey, which as all products coming from Etna is tremendously tasty and is sold in an endless number of varieties. Vineyards are also common in the area. The cone of Monterosso itself is occupied by fruit gardens on its southern side, whereas the remainder is covered with bushes and small trees. A small abandoned quarry at the southwest base of the cone shows the red scoriae and bombs that probably inspired the name given to the cone. The single crater, whose maximum width is slightly less than 200 m, is open to the north, where presumably the main lava effusion took place, although lava may also have been emitted from vents at the southern or eastern base of the cone.
I visited and climbed Monterosso for the first time in early May 1997 and passed many times nearby since then. The photographs on this page were taken in the spring of 1997 and in early March 2004.

Left: the horseshoe-shaped cone of Monterosso seen from northeast, showing breach in the north side of the cone, and abandoned quarry on its northeast side. Monte Gorna, a much larger cone formed in Roman age, is seen in the distance at right Center: crater of Monterosso, seen from its southwest rim, and eastern crater rim in the background. The reddish scoriae that make up the cone are seen in many places between the bushes of broom that cover much of the cone and its crater Right: abandoned quarry at western base of Monterosso, showing reddish-brown scoriae and bombs deposited during the eruption of this cone. Photos taken 1 May 1997

Continue to Monte Ilice

Return to the Etna flank cone index

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