17 September 2004 update. There is a bit of news that has to be reported on this page, which is not related to the current eruption of Mount Etna, and it is bad news. On 15 September 2004, a French hiker was killed by lightning in the Montagnola area, at 2640 m elevation on the south flank of the volcano. In that moment, a violent thunderstorm had developed over the mountain (which also deposited a significant quantity of hail that gave Etna a "winterly" appearance thereafter). According to a report in the local newspaper "La Sicilia" (17 September 2004), the victim, a 49-years old mountain guide (!) from Paris, had climbed to the area alone in spite of the increasingly bad weather. It seems that he intended to check the conditions for viewing the active lava flows before leading an excursion group to the place during the following days.
Unfortunately, this is only the latest in a series of similar accidents in a few years. Since 1999, four people have been killed by lightning on the flanks of Etna: one man in 1999 at Monte Conca near Piano Provenzana, and a young couple near Punta Lucia (~2900 m elevation) in 2001. Furthermore, one man was injured by lightning at the Monti Silvestri (near the "Nicolosi Nord" tourist station at ~1900 m) in 2003. Three more people were killed in other accidents on Etna during the past 15 years, most recently in 2001 when a Spanish visitor disappeared within one of the pits of the Bocca Nuova. In contrast, two people have been killed directly by eruptive activity during the past 25 years, and the latest accident dates back to 1987. This shows clearly that the risk of being killed by lightning or other types of accidents is much higher than that of dying from the effects of an eruption.
Detailed information and regular updates regarding the current activity of Mount Etna is provided by the Catania section of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV-CT), where there are also photos and maps of the evolving lava flow fields; the institute maintains two web cams in Catania ("CUAD", at the south base of Etna) and Milo (east flank). The INGV-CT furthermore submits frequent updates to the Volcano Listserver, which are subsequently synthesized in the weekly eruption updates of the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program. The Hotel Corsaro, located at about 1900 m elevation on the south flank of Mount Etna, provides a comprehensive list of web cams pointed on the ongoing eruption of the volcano, some of them are new and show close-up views of the eruptive fissure and lava flow. This has also a nice little page showing how old friends are treated by the Corsaro Brothers running the hotel (photos courtesy of Gerlinde Knapp). Finally, Charles Rivière's "Etna Volcan Sicilien" reports the author's own observations and also contains numerous photographs and movie clips.

7 September 2004 update. Information regarding the current state of Mount Etna's activity is provided by the Catania section of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV-CT) and Charles Rivière's "Etna Volcan Sicilien" (the latter also includes photographs).

21 March 2004 update. Updating of this page will be discontinued from now on. I am really sorry for that but this is a necessary step, for a number of reasons, including serious time constraints as I am engaged in a number of scientific and educational activities. However, photographs and summarizing descriptions of future eruptive events will be posted on this site. Furthermore, reference will be made to other sources of information in the case of renewed eruptive activity. The first place to look at is "Etna Volcan Sicilien", whose author Charles Rivière frequently visits Etna and faithfully shares his observations and photographs on-line. Scientific information on significant eruptive events is provided by the Catania section of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV-CT), whose staff frequently provides reports via the Volcano Listserver and in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network. "Italy's Volcanoes" will continue to serve as a prime source of information regarding the Italian volcanoes, aiming at placing individual volcanoes and their eruptive histories into a broader context in space and time. In any case, the demise of the Etna news falls into a period when there is very little to report on the volcano, which has given us a highly welcome period of quiet after nearly eight years of frantic activity. The archived news documenting much of that period provide a vivid impression of my early years at Etna; they comprise an enormous treasure of experiences and emotions and represent a unique "diary" of a life on an active volcano. Although you will no longer find any "hot news" regarding Etna on this site, I hope that you will continue to enjoy visiting "Italy's Volcanoes" and explore the fascinating world of the volcanoes in this beautiful country.

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