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Two images of the same place, taking 6 months apart: a view from Torre del Filosofo southeward over the Piano del Lago toward the Montagnola (the sharp peak in the background). The upper photograph was taken in late September 1989, the lower in early April 1990. It is evident that Etna is a different world in the winter. In both photographs, dark lava flows are visible in the middle ground; most of these were emplaced in 1971, but narrow lava tongue (visible as a slightly darker streak on left margin of the lava field in the lower image) is of the 1989 eruption and was only a few days old when the upper photograph was taken.

Etna photo gallery: 1990
My second visit, Etna quiet and covered with snow

My brief return to Italy's volcanoes in the spring of 1990 was mostly dedicated to the volcanoes of the Aeolian Islands (mainly Vulcano and Stromboli), but I also managed to pay a two-days visit to Etna in early April 1990. At that time the volcano was completely quiet, following its spectacular 1989 eruption and a series of further paroxysmal eruptive episodes from the Southeast Crater in January-February 1990. Differently from my previous visit, there was still a considerable snow cover above about 2300 m elevation, which gave the landscape a strongly different aspect compared to that seen six months earlier. I did visit the summit craters on this occasion but did not manage to take exceptionally interesting photographs, which is why only few images of this visit are displayed, and all are of a more general character. Some are of historical value, since the landscape shown in them has changed beyond belief since then, such as those at the top of the page, and the one of the Valle del Bove, which 20 months later was the site of a voluminous flank eruption.

Left: the Rifugio Sapienza, a traditional mountain hut on the southern flank at 1910 m elevation, which became famous with the 2001 eruption
Right: a view from above onto the Rifugio Sapienza area as it was on 7 April 1990. The large pyroclastic cones at left are the Monti Silvestri, formed in 1892

	Left: looking down on the southern flank of Etna, showing some of the large pyroclastic cones dotting that side of the volcano. The largest of them, in the center of the image, is Monti Rossi, formed in 1669 Right: view from the Montagnola toward the summit, showing lavas of 1971 and 1989
	Left: snow-covered hornitos and nice lava flow channel of the 1985 eruption near the "Piccolo Rifugio" at 2500 m elevation. All of these features were buried under lava during the 2001 eruption Right: the southern portion of the Valle del Bove before it was filled with an enormous quantity of lava in 1991-1993

Continue to 1991-1993

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Page set up on 20 June 2003, last modified on 18 October 2003

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