The event held on Sunday, September 28th in Fornazzo di Milo, at the Chestnut Ecomuseum, was no ordinary event… even though it was part of the town festival. ETNA SOCIAL HUB, as it was called, was a turning point that pointed the way, a new way of experiencing our volcano. And it did so in the enchanting setting of the last human frontier before the beginning of the protected park. The organization, curated by Antonio De Luca, Graziano Massimino, Vera Marci and Elvira Di Stefano, with the precious support of the Fornazzo-based “Trucioli” Cultural Association, aimed to highlight Etna through social media… paradoxically, with the aim of transcending social media to fully experience the volcano.
The Chestnut Ecomuseum
The Chestnut Ecomuseum is located in Fornazzo, a hamlet of Milo at 824 meters above sea level and right at the entrance to the protected area Regional Park of Etna. Built with leftover waste from the village’s six sawmills, it features a modern and completely eco-friendly design, “hiding” the rooms of a cultural and exhibition center behind chestnut wood panels. Small in size (but with plans to expand) and featuring a beautiful garden at the back and a square at the front, the ecomuseum has previously hosted exhibitions and conferences—as well as educational workshops for schools. The museum’s activities are almost always managed by the local cultural association, “Trucioli.”
Etna Social Hub
Etna Social Hub was a pilot experiment for a new way of thinking about Etna, an Etna that is now talked about far too much—and often inappropriately—on social media, with exaggeration and arrogance. Tired of constantly intervene to rehash, correct, explain, and re-explain the volcano to those who don’t understand it (but arrogate the right to tell others about it!), Antonio De Luca, Graziano Massimino, Vera Marci and Elvira Di Stefano decided to invite those who deeply respect Etna on social media. They created an event where the volcano is described via Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, but with the aim of encouraging people to “get out of the screen” and begin to fully experience it.
The organizers, after all, are already well-established educational organizations that share Etna’s stories: Passione Etna (by De Luca ) is a page that explains the volcano through thoughtful documentaries and interactive activities for students; La Teoria del Fornazzo (by Massimino) describes the world from an original starting point: the Etna village of Fornazzo. Vera Marci is an artist who also devotes herself a lot to teaching children and Elvira Di Stefano, a doctor of law, deals with environmental issues.
The following responded to Etna Social Hub’s invitation: Giovinsky Aetnensis, a page run by a talented young photographer who has captured some of the most beautiful eruption scenes; the team of KD Etna and Pesce Rosso, two skilled artists who depict our volcano with refined and cutting-edge techniques; VulComics, a page of satirical cartoons featuring Etna, Stromboli, and all the other volcanoes on Earth; Guardovulcani, by popularizer and volcanologist Roberto Guardo; and Etnative, a page run by volcanology guide Fabrizio Zuccarello. Geoetna, Etnaandtheworld, and the Youth Alpine Club of Acireale also shared their expertise.
Young People and Etna
The young people of Fleri Etneo deserve a special mention. Fleri is a hamlet of Zafferana Etnea, located near a dangerous fault that constantly triggers powerful earthquakes.
Over the past 40 years, Fleri has suffered three earthquakes and various damages, but it has always recovered… and not only that. Since the beginning of the new millennium, it has undertaken a commitment to earthquake-proof construction, which has significantly limited the damage of the last earthquake (2018). Apparently, little of the beauty remains in Fleri: the historic church collapsed, the old part of town rebuilt several times. But the local youth are committed to promoting the memory of their town so as not to forget “how we were” and how we must return to being.
Young people are the future of Etna, in a positive sense. And the competition was dedicated to the young communicators of the future, with the winning documentary by the brilliant Andrea Arcidiacono, screened in the evening finale.
Experiencing Etna in the 21st Century
Experiencing Etna in the 21st century also means experiencing it largely through the images of others. Thanks to the dissemination of information on social media, everyone can now see and feel the volcano, even from an ocean away. This helps promote the region, but it often leads to excessive arrogance: people who have never set foot in Sicily assume the right to tell us, Etna residents, how we should live and act on our land.
The Etna Social Hub’s invitation is clear: use social media only to stimulate curiosity, but leave social media—for real!—in order to explore the authentic region. And above all, if you use social media for learning, learn to distinguish those who truly disseminate information from those who spout judgments just for the sake of a few clicks.
In an age distorted by AI, learning with your own eyes is essential to not losing the joy of living. Do this by relying on good tour operators who are local experts, but above all by learning to distinguish well those who talk about Etna from those who tell nonsense about Etna.