Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology

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Monte Rinazzi and Monte Rinazzelli
Group photo of Monte Rinazzi (the densely forested cone with a distinct crater depression in center-right portion of photo) and its neighbor Monte Rinazzelli immediately to the left, seen from the summit of Monte Sona (about 1.3 km to the northwest) on 31 October 2003. It is probable that both Monte Rinazzi and Monte Rinazzelli were formed during a single eruption in prehistorical time. Immediately behind them is the black tongue of the main lava flow of the 2001 eruption (note that this is not present in the photo at the bottom of this page). The three large cones in the background are (from right to left) Monti Rossi, Monte Serra Pizzuta, and Mompeloso

Mamma Etna's countless children
Monte Rinazzi and Monte Rinazzelli
S flank, 14.992518° E, 37.658500° N (Monte Rinazzi),
14.993275° E, 37.661243° N (Monte Rinazzelli)
Summit elevation: 1169 m (Monte Rinazzi), 1155 m (Monte Rinazzelli)

 

Monte Rinazzi and Monte Rinazzelli are two of several relatively unconspicuous and densely vegetated cones that lie to the east of the road that leads from the town of Nicolosi to the tourist station "Etna Sud" at the Rifugio Sapienza. Although Monte Rinazzi lies further downslope than its neighbor, it is about 15 m taller. Before it was encircled on its eastern side by the most advanced portion of the main 2001 lava flow, its height above its southeast base was nearly 90 m, whereas on its western side its relative height had been reduced to some 30-40 m by a lava flow erupted in 1910. Besides a circular summit crater about 180 m in diameter and with a depth of approximately 35 m below the highest (northeastern) crater rim there are two smaller craters on the south and southwest flanks of Monte Rinazzi. Monte Rinazzelli has one single, somewhat degraded horseshoe-shaped crater that is open to the south and densely forested. Both cones are certainly prehistoric and probably much older than some of the nearby cones such as Monte Sona and Monte S. Leo, and from their relative positions and identical vegetation it appears that they were formed during a single eruption.
During my single close pass at Monte Rinazzi and Monte Rinazzelli, on 10 May 2000, I did not take any photographs because it was impossible to find a good position for portraying these cones. The only reasonably decent photographs, taken from Monte Sona (about 1.3 km to the northwest) in April 2000 and October 2003, are shown on this page.

Monte Rinazzi
Photograph taken from the summit of Monte Sona on 22 April 2000, 3.5 years before the photo above was taken - note absence of the 2001 lava flow. Monte Rinazzi (in left part of this image) is seen to be much less conspicuous than some of its much larger and probably more recent neighbor cones, such as Monte S. Leo (whose eastern flank is visible at extreme right) and Monte Sona. The gray lava field in the foreground is of the 1910 eruption; in the background it joins the lava fields of 1886 and 1892. The road that can be seen in the right part of the image leads from the town of Nicolosi (out of the field of view in the background) to the tourist facilities around the Rifugio Sapienza. View is to the southeast

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

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