Italian American Herald - May 2021

EXPLORING PARADISE
Meet your tour guide for a dazzling
Italian odyssey
PAGE 3
IT'S ALL GOOD
A eulogy for Mom from Ol' Blue Eyes himself?
PAGE 8
THE CHEF'S PERSPECTIVE Eureka! Springtime polenta!
PAGE 11
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MAY 2021
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Mount Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe, and has erupted frequently over the last half-million years.
By Jeanne Outlaw-Cannavo
With the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reporting recent continuous episodes of eruptions, lava fountaining, intra-crater explosive activity, and ash emissions, Mount Etna is displaying its power and beauty again.
Although Italian authorities said the volcanic activity posed no danger to surrounding villages, gas emissions that rose from the several summit craters and occasional explosive activity were visible, as well as dense ash plumes. These plumes rose to heights of 18,000 feet and caused ashes and lapilli to fall in Milia, Nicolosi, and Catania. Through all this, Italian authorities said it posed no danger to the surrounding villages.
“We’ve seen worse,” commented Stefano Branco, the head of the Catania
office of the INGV
Mount Etna is Sicily’s most prominent
landmark, and visible to most of the population who live on the eastern
side of the island. Almost 25 percent of Sicily’s residents live on the slopes of the active volcano which the Sicilians call Mungibeddu. The actual name of Mount Etna derives from the Greek Aitne, from aitho, “I burn.” Mount Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe. It has been studied systematically since the middle of the 19th century. Three observatories have been set up on its slopes; they are located in Catania, Casa Etnea, and Cantoniera.
With small stones and ashes raining down, authorities decided to close Catania’s international airport and continued to extend monitoring the situation closely in the three other villages of Linguaglossa, Fornazzo and Milo at the
foot of the mountain. Images showed a spectacular rose-colored plume of ashes above the snow-capped summit.
At 10,906 feet, Etna is the tallest
active volcano in Europe and has erupted frequently in the past 500,000 years. Etna’s geological characteristics indicate that it has been active for the past 2.6 million years. The volcano has had more than one active center. A number of subsidiary cones have been formed on lateral fissures extending out from the center and down the sides. The present structure of the mountain are a result of the activity of at least two main eruptive centers.
The Greeks created legends about the volcano. They believed that it was the workshop of Hephaestus and the Cyclops or that underneath it the giant Typhon lay, making the Earth tremble when he turned. The ancient poet Hesiod spoke of Etna’s
eruptions. Two other Greeks, Aeschylus and Pindar, referred to a famous eruption of 475 B.C.
Another better-known ancient eruption took place in 396 B.C., which kept the Carthaginian army from reaching Catania. From 1500 B.C. to 1669 A.D., there are records of 71 eruptions, 14 of which occurred before the birth of Christ. An eruption in 1381 sent a lava flow as far as the Ionian Sea, about 10 miles away. The most violent historical eruption, however, was in 1669, when about 29 billion cubic feet of lava were thrˇown out. The eruption took place along a fissure that opened above the town of Nicolosi, widening into a chasm from which lava flowed and solid fragments, sand, and ashes were hurled. The latter formed a double cone more than
continued on page 5
The power and beauty of Mount Etna
Despite blasts and dense ash plumes, officials say nearby villages are safe
Vol. 8 / No. 5