Monte Salto del Cane is the low irregular cone seen in the center of this photograph, taken from the summit of Monte Serra Pizzuta Calvarina (about 1.5 km to the northwest) in late January 2004. It essentially consists of two crescent-shaped segments of its crater rim, on the west and east sides, with prominent breaches on the north and south sides, and three deep craters lying in the center. The crater rim is highest on the western (near) side. The low rounded hill to the left of Monte Salto del Cane is a large tumulus formed in the lava field of the long-lived, voluminous 1634-1638 eruption; dark lava tongues in the foreground are of the 1766 Monti Calcarazzi eruption, while the still darker lavas at right were emitted in 1892 from the Monti Silvestri

Mamma Etna's countless children
Monte Salto del Cane
SSE flank, 15.035191° E, 37.680452° N
summit elevation: 1488 m (W crater rim)

Among the numerous pyroclastic cones that lie on Etna's southern and southeastern flanks, Monte Salto del Cane (which means "mountain of the descent (or slope) of the dog", whatever the significance might be) is one of the most peculiar for its deep craters and overall asymmetric morphology. The cone itself is not very conspicuous, with its high western portion rising only about 40 m above the surrounding terrain, but in contrast, the floor of its largest, northern crater lies more than 110 m below the west rim and is a popular destination for local hikers. This crater is surrounded by impressive vertical walls showing outcrops of reddish scoriae and bombs and lava flows. Differently from most of the other flank cones of Etna, whose craters are relatively flat depressions on top of cones, the main Monte Salto del Cane crater is an enormous hole in the ground, where hikers find themselves in absolute silence and peace. A rough investigation of the outcrops in the crater walls leads to the following interpretation of the eruption that formed this crater: activity was initially characterized by lava fountains emitted from a series of vents aligned on a N-S fissure, resulting in the growth of pyroclastic cones, from which lava overflowed in surges toward the east and south. At a lager stage the main vent seems to have been filled by fluid lava, which continued to overflow on the eastern side, while lava was probably also emitted from vents further south. Toward the end, the large crater visible today was formed, either by strong explosive (phreatomagmatic) activity, or by collapse. I have not made any detailed study of the deposits capping the succession of eruptive products of the Monte Salto del Cane eruption to ascertain which of the two has actually been the case; however, the presence of small currents of water in the crater walls indicate high groundwater levels in the area. Monte Salto del Cane appears to be a fairly young feature, although it is partly encircled by the large lava flow of 1634-1638, and a small lobe of this lava entered into the northern crater.
I have passed dozens of time relatively close to Monte Salto del Cane when driving up the road that is known as the "strada del Salto del Cane" and leads from Nicolosi to the Rifugio Sapienza area, but my first visit to this cone and its craters was made only on 16 March 2004. All photos on this page except the one above were taken on that date.

Left: the steep, rocky western inner face of the largest crater of Monte Salto del Cane seen against the backdrop of Etna's main edifice (with dense gas plumes coming from the Northeast Crater). View is from the southeast rim of the crater of Monte Salto del Cane Center: a look across the northernmost and largest of the craters of Monte Salto del Cane from the southwestern rim. The crest in the background is the south rim of the Valle del Bove Right: panoramic view of the northern crater of Monte Salto del Cane from its north rim, showing vertical inner walls both on the eastern and western sides. Photos taken 16 March 2004

Left: south rim of the second largest crater of Monte Salto del Cane, seen from the east rim. This crater is relatively flat and lies immediately to the south of the largest crater (out of this view to the right) Center: flat floor of the second largest crater of Monte Salto del Cane, seen from its northern rim. Note large blocks on the floor, which have fallen from the steep rock outcrop at left Right: largest of the craters of Monte Salto del Cane seen from its southeast rim. A spectacular vertical section about 90 m high is exposed in the western (facing) inner wall of the crater. Photos taken 16 March 2004

Left: huge blocks fallen from the near-vertical cliffs on the sides of the largest crater of Monte Salto del Cane litter the floor of this impressive crater. This view is to the southwest Center: spectacular western inner face of the same crater, composed mostly of solid lava, possibly a frozen lava lake within an originally much smaller crater Right: more detail of the section in the western wall of the crater is seen in this photograph. Note bedded scoriae to the right and unconformity at the contact with the dense lavas to the left. Presumably the scoriae were deposited by lava fountaining and Strombolian activity to build an early cone before its crater was filled with a lava lake; the present crater was possibly formed by collapse at the end of the Monte Salto del Cane eruption. Photos taken 16 Mach 2004

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