The broad cone of Monte Ruvolo is seen from northwest in this May 1999 photograph, showing the youthful shape of the cone and a prominent notch, or breach, in its southern crater rim. During the eruption of this cone, whose age is not known, lava flowed from a vent (or a cluster of vents) at the lower end of the breach, at the western base of the cone and formed the sparsely vegetated lava field seen in the foreground. A portion of the main edifice of Mount Etna is visible in the left background

Mamma Etna's countless children
Monte Ruvolo
W flank, 14.89315° E, 37.74952° N
Summit elevation: 1413 m (N rim of crater)

Among the numerous pyroclastic cones on the western flank of Mount Etna, Monte Ruvolo is one of the most conspicuous, rising more than 170 m above the surrounding landscape. In spite of its youthful shape and the relatively sparse vegetation cover, the date of its formation probably falls into the prehistoric period (but it has to be acknowledged that reasonably reliable records of eruptions on the western flank begin only with the 17th century).
Monte Ruvolo is morphologically relatively simple, with its cone being slighly elongated in N-S direction, and a single summit crater less than 300 m wide whose rim is lowest on the W side where a prominent notch overlooks a low irregular shield that built around one or more effusive vents at the western base of the cone. A poorly vegetated lava field extends from that shield to the west. On its southern and southeastern side, Monte Ruvolo is surrounded by the lava field emitted from Monte Nuovo during an eruption in February-March 1763.
I climbed Monte Ruvolo only once, on the evening of 19 October 1999, in order to obtain a good view of the lava flows moving down the western flank of Etna from the Bocca Nuova. Photographs of the cone from its base were taken during several excursions in the summer of 1999, which are displayed on this page.

Seen from south (left), Monte Ruvolo appears remarkably symmetrical, but this impression is only apparent, as can be seen in the center photograph. The deep notch in the western rim of the crater is probably due to the fact that eruptive activity not only occurred in the summit crater of the cone but also from minor vents on a fissure cutting the western flank. The lower end of this fissure was the site of lava emission, forming the poorly vegetated lava field in the foreground. Photos were taken in May 1999

Left: the marvellous landscape of Etna's western flank on a sunny day in May 1999, with Monte Ruvolo standing in left middle ground Center: seen from southeast, Monte Ruvolo is the tallest of the three cones seen in this photograph taken in early July 1999. Like on the south side of its crater rim, there is a deep notch also in the northern crater rim (seen at right). The two smaller cones standing before Monte Ruvolo are the Monti Tre Frati Right: Monte Ruvolo seen from southwest in late October 2003, during much less pleasant meteorological conditions than in photograph at left

In this panoramic photo mosaic of the western flank of Etna (taken from the summit of Monte Minardo), Monte Ruvolo is seen at left, partially surrounded by a light-covered lava flow that was erupted in 1763 from Monte Nuovo (in the central part of the image, in front of the main edifice of Etna). The lavas erupted during the Monte Ruvolo eruption are seen as a yellow-colored, poorly vegetated patch at the left base of Monte Ruvolo. Photographs taken in May 1999

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