Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology

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Cable car, August 1991

The departure station of the third-generation cable car in August 1991, one year after its inauguration (the Etna cable car had been destroyed or damaged by eruptions two times previously, in 1971 and 1983). The small object sitting on the crest at the skyline, immediately above the building most to the left is the arrival station of the cable car, next to the Montagnola (the sharp peak seen at the top of the crest) at about 2500 m elevation.
Exactly ten years after this photograph was taken, this cable car suffered the fate of its predecessors, with its arrival station being burned by a lava flow coming from behind the Montagnola, and several of its poles being more or less buried by other flows. The 2002-2003 eruption added to the destruction. Nonetheless it is already decided that version 4 of the cable car will be constructed in the same place, and possibly be functional as of 2004

Etna photo gallery: 1991-1993
Glimpses of Etna, August 1991, March 1992, and March 1993


Between 1991 and 1995, I visited Etna very briefly on 22 August 1991, on 20 March 1992, and in mid-March 1993, but only during the first of these visits did I make it to the summit craters. The second time, March 1992, a massive eruption was underway in the Valle del Bove, and I enjoyed a marvellous evening on a peak on the rim of the Valle, Monte Zoccolaro, watching countless active lava flow lobes moving on a huge lava field just a few hundred meters below my observation point. One month later that eruption began to threaten the village of Zafferana Etnea, and in May 1992 dramatic efforts were made, some with less and others with more success, to keep the lava from eating its way all through the village.
When I returned to the spot about one year later, the eruption was still in progress but at a very reduced rate, and actually it ended two weeks later. In any case I did not get to see any of the activity, but had the chance to visit the place that had been in all the world's newspapers, magazines, and television news programs.

Birth and death of the Etna cable car, v.3

Cable car, August 1991

Two views of version 3 of the Etna cable car. Left photograph shows poles and cabins of during first year of functioning of this version, in August 1991, the one at right, taken in June 2003, shows what remains of it after the two destructive eruptions of 2001 and 2002-2003

Cable car, June 2003

One marvellous evening on Etna in March 1992

20 March 1992

Great show on the evening of 20 March 1992, seen from Monte Zoccolaro on the southern rim of the Valle del Bove: since more than three months, lava is filling the southern portion of the Valle, heading toward the village of Zafferana Etnea.
Cable car, August 1991 After reaching Monte Zoccolaro in dense fog and seeing virtually nothing, I wait for nightfall - and the fog begins to lift, revealing a sight beyond belief. There's lava, lava, lava. Lava everywhere, in dozens of active lobes, ribbons, tongues, issuing from countless ephemeral vents on the active lava flow-field Cable car, August 1991
Cable car, August 1991

Left: a good twenty small active lava lobes fed from as many ephemeral vents in the lower portion of the lava flow-field, 20 March 1992.
Right: the single building of any significant size near Zafferana that was destroyed during the 1991-1993 eruption, seen in March 1993. Owner wrote "Thanks Government" on its wall

Cable car, August 1991

More photos of the 1991-1993 eruption

Continue to 1995

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