Handpicked experience · Sicily
Sicily, Italy
A day linking the volcano to the black baroque city it destroyed and then rebuilt, finishing in the hill village that sited its theatre to frame the crater.
A return shuttle from Catania with a multilingual guide
A guided visit inside a natural lava cave, with the kit provided
Time of your own to walk Taormina's streets and its shops
An optional upgrade on the mountain, by cable car and mountain vehicle with an alpine guide, to reach the higher craters
Catania sits at the foot of Etna and is made of it. Taormina sits forty kilometres north on a terrace above the sea, looking straight at it. This is a day that goes up the mountain in the morning and along to the village in the afternoon, and the connecting thread is the volcano the whole of eastern Sicily has arranged itself around.
A shuttle takes the group from Catania up through the villages on the volcano's flank to the crater area and a lava cave, then north along the coast to the hill village, with time there before the return.
The best story on this itinerary. In 1669 an eruption sent a flow towards Catania that took two months to arrive. A group of townsmen went out in wet cowhides with iron bars, breached the cooled crust at the side of the flow and diverted it — and it worked. But the diverted lava now headed for Paternò, whose people came out armed and drove them off, after which the original flow resumed and buried a large part of Catania anyway. The episode led to a Sicilian ban on interfering with lava flows that stood for nearly three hundred years.
Look at the buildings before you leave. The city was overrun by that flow in 1669 and flattened by an earthquake in 1693, and it was rebuilt using the only stone available in quantity — the lava itself. That is why its baroque is grey-black where the same period in other Sicilian towns is honey-coloured. The elephant in the main square is carved from it, and so is most of what you walk past on the way to the bus.
Worth thinking about before the day starts, not at the ticket window. Reaching the upper craters means a cable car, then a mountain vehicle, then a guide on foot, and it is arranged and settled on the mountain rather than through this booking. It adds around two hours to the day. It is also the first thing suspended when the volcanological authorities restrict access, which happens often. The lower crater area and the cave are what you have definitely bought.
A misconception worth clearing up. The village sits about two hundred metres above the water on a shelf of rock, and the beaches below it are reached by cable car or a long series of steps. If you arrive expecting to walk out of a café and onto sand, you will be walking down for twenty minutes and back up for rather longer.
The thing to see if you see one thing. The Greeks cut a theatre into the hillside in the third century BC and set it so that the stage is backed by the sea on one side and Etna on the other — the view is the scenery. The Romans later enlarged it for gladiatorial games and built a wall across part of that opening, which tells you plainly what each civilisation thought a theatre was for.
Be realistic. With the mountain in the morning and the coast road either side, the time in the village comes to a couple of hours. That is enough for the main street, the theatre and a coffee, or for the theatre and a proper lunch, but not for all of it. Decide which on the bus rather than at the gate.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
An eruption sent a flow at Catania. Townsmen in wet hides breached its crust and diverted it, but the people of Paternò, where it now headed, drove them off armed. The original course resumed and buried much of Catania, and Sicily banned interfering with lava flows for nearly three centuries.
Because it was rebuilt after 1669 and 1693 from the only stone available in quantity, which was the lava itself. Its baroque is dark where the same period elsewhere in Sicily is honey-coloured.
No. Reaching the upper craters means a cable car, a mountain vehicle and a guide on foot, arranged and settled on the mountain. It adds around two hours and is the first thing suspended when access is restricted.
Not easily in the time available. The village sits about two hundred metres above the sea and the beaches are reached by cable car or a long stair. Allow twenty minutes down and considerably more back up.
A third-century BC theatre cut into the hillside and positioned so that the sea backs the stage on one side and Etna on the other. The Romans later enlarged it for games and walled across part of that opening.
A couple of hours once the mountain and the coast road are accounted for. Enough for the main street and the theatre, or the theatre and lunch, but not for everything.