The irregular outline of Monte Nunziata is seen in this view from south, taken in mid-August 2002. The cone actually surrounds a large crater, elongate in W-E direction and open on the west side, where a large lava flow was emitted. One of two smaller explosion craters that lie on the eastern side of Monte Nunziata is seen at right. The prominent lava flow with well-developed ogives (a kind of pressure ridges caused by the movement of the flow under a rigid surface) in the foreground was emplaced during another flank eruption, eleven years later, in 1843

Mamma Etna's countless children
Monte Nunziata
W flank, 14.949533° E, 37.762034° N
Summit elevation: 1810 m (E rim of crater)

Monte Nunziata is one of the more recent cones on Etna's west flank, formed during a relatively short but intense eruption lasting from 31 October until 22 November 1832. The vents around which Monte Nunziata was eventually built up opened only on 3 November 1832, four days after the first lava outbreak higher upslope. It is a relatively low but rather broad cone, encircling a huge crater 250 x 300 m in diameter and open to the west, where a large lava flow spilled out and extended for nearly 9 km in the direction of the town of Bronte. As appears from contemporaneous descriptions, this eruption must have been impressive, with an eruptive fissure nearly 2.5 km long and lava issuing in numerous spots. However, explosive activity was strongest in the lowermost portion of the fissure, where fallout from broad lava fountains built the cone of Monte Nunziata. It is highest on the western side of the gaping crater; immediately to the SE and NE lie two smaller craters that probably formed as huge magma blisters exploded through the flank of Monte Palestra. A similar phenomenon was observed during the 2001 eruption on the southern side of the large pyroclastic cone that grew at 2570 m elevation in a place formerly called Piano del Lago.
The cone still bears little vegetation, although reforestation is under way on its lower north flank, and a single pine tree is standing on the steep northeastern inner crater wall. A spectacular lava cave lies immediately upslope (northeast) of Monte Nunziata, which represents a lava tube formed during the 1832 eruption; the lava was fed from one of the higher vents on the eruptive fissure active during this eruption.
I have visited Monte Nunziata several times in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The best photographs of it were obtained during the 2001 and 2002 visits and are shown on this page.

Left: seen from north, the outline of Monte Nunziata appears quite smooth. The reforestation efforts of the Etna Forest Service have resulted in the green aspect of the flat terrain in the foreground, with numerous young trees growing on the fertile volcanic ground. Photograph taken in late May 2002 (note snow on upper slope of the main Etna edifice at left) Center: Monte Nunziata (center of photograph) seen from the lower western flank of the main edifice of Etna, about 1.5 km to the southeast, in late October 1999. One of the two explosion craters on the east side of the cone can be seen to the left of the main crater of Monte Nunziata; Monte Maletto lies in the distance at left Right: western side of Monte Nunziata seen from the Forest Service road (in the foreground) in mid-August 2001. Persons are crowded around the entrance to the Monte Nunziata lava cave (formed at a lava tube active during the 1832 eruption); behind them lies the more northerly of the two explosion craters on the east side of Monte Nunziata

Left: a view down into the crater of Monte Nunziata from its NE rim, showing wide breach in the western crater rim where lava flowed out into the direction of Bronte. Note the single pine tree standing on the steep inner wall of the crater below the viewing point. In the background are some of the numerous cones on Etna's west flank, from right to left: Monte Lepre, Monte Minardo (in the distance), Monte Nuovo, and the two Monti De Fiore, formed in 1974 Center: more detail of the interior of the Monte Nunziata crater is visible in this photograph, taken from a slightly more southerly point on the E rim Right: eastern portion of the Monte Nunziata crater as seen from its northern rim, with dark lava tongues of the 1999 Bocca Nuova (summit) eruption extending down the lower slope of the main edifice of Etna in the right background. All three photographs were taken in mid-August 2002

Left: two eruptive vents separated by a low septum can be distinguished in the eastern portion of the crater of Monte Nunziata. Lone pine tree growing on steep inner crater wall is seen in left center, and a second smaller tree stands on the rampart between the two vents. Black lavas of the 1999 Bocca Nuova eruption are in the background. Nameless smaller cone with few trees in right middle ground is apparently very youthful, but its age is unknown. View is to the SE, photograph taken in mid-August 2002 Center: reddish oxidized scoriae and meter-sized bombs flattened upon impact make up the north wall of the crater of Monte Nunziata (left foreground). The bulky main edifice of Etna is seen in the background with dark 1999 lavas extending down the slope in numerous lobes. Photograph taken in mid-August 2002 Right: the depression seen in this photograph is not an eruptive vent, but the entrance to the Monte Nunziata lava cave. Photograph taken in mid-August 2001

Entrance to the Monte Nunziata lava cave in mid-August 2001. Left photograph shows some of the smaller cones built up in the upper part of the 1832 eruptive fissure, upslope from Monte Nunziata. Linings on the walls of the cava (center photograph) bear testimony to variations in the level of lava flowing through the lava tube during the eruption. The righ photograph shows a look into the depth of the cave, which steeply descends into what may have been one of the conduits feeding the 1832 eruption

Monte Nunziata, its two peripheral explosion craters and the associated lava field are seen here from the upper west flank of Etna's main edifice on 29 October 1999, during the eruption of the Bocca Nuova. Bluish gases rising in the foreground are marking the path of an active lava flow of that eruption. The distance of the viewing point from Monte Nunziata is about 3.5 km and the height difference more than 1000 m

Continue to Monte Lepre

Return to the Etna flank cone index

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