Eruption Archives

Pedara, a volcanic land of Gods

Posted on 24/04/2023 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

The legend – perhaps linked to a story so ancient as to have been lost – tells that the place where Pedara stands today was dedicated to Jupiter, the father of all the gods. And he was celebrated by a magnificent temple, an “ara” which was impossible not to admire. The lands “at the foot […]

Mt. Etna’s eruption of 1843 and the Big Explosion

Posted on 08/04/2023 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

Can the world end in just 11 days? Maybe not, for many of us, but for those who experienced the November 1843 eruption of Mount Etna up close, that must have been the sensation. And for some of them the world really ended that week. A brief but violent, intense event that left a trail […]

Mt Etna’s 1792 eruption

Posted on 13/03/2023 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

There are paintings in memory of this event which, due to its violence and spectacularity, at the end of the 18th century, really made one think of the Apocalypse. While in France the new vision of the modern world was forming after the bloody revolution, in Bourbon Sicily there were moments of fear. In 1792, […]

Acireale and the Timpa lava plateau

Posted on 05/03/2023 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

The people of Acireale solemnly call it “the” Timpa. But to be exact this escarpment that flows into the sea is part of a system of different “timpas”, that is “cliffs” – in Sicilian – formed by lava rocks. However, the one of Acireale is certainly among the most majestic and for this reason it […]

The eruption of 252 AD

Posted on 27/02/2023 (23/02/2025) by Grazia Musumeci

The eruption of 252 AD remained famous in the Sicilian history because it is linked to the very first miracle of St. Agatha. The young Catania martyr girl, in fact, had died only the previous year and the population asked for her help against the fury of the volcano. They brought her veil to procession […]