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Memorable surprises also come in the form of minuscule alpine plants that bloom on the blackened lava terrain of Etna up to a record 3050m above sea level, a mere incandescent stone’s throw from the very active central craters! The vast slopes of the volcano, in fact, host an astonishing variety of unique flowering plants (Astragalus or milk-vetch) and trees (the pale Scandinavian-like birches) endemic to the mountain, along with dense forests of chestnut and majestic Corsican pines.

In all a mere 4% of Sicily’s territory is estimated to be occupied by forests. Medium-altitude mountainous zones mean vast woods of downy and evergreen holm oak and their affiliates, together with areas of the silvery-barked Aleppo pine with long, bright green needles – as it is drought resistant, it is often used for reforestation, particularly on rocky terrain close to the coast. A special mention is due the curious manna ash, a flowering tree long cultivated in both Sicily and Calabria for its sugary sap containing mannitol, a white alcohol once used for medicinal purposes (a mild laxative) or in dietetic sweets, now all but substituted by synthetic substances. Long slashes were made in the bark of tree in August and the manna (not to be confused with the biblical substance, a lichen in all probability) was scraped off then dried as cannoli tubes. The Madonie and the Zingaro Reserve are good places to see old trees still marked with the cuts. Abandoned carob trees are also common, the seed pods fed to livestock or cooked up for confectionery. A further example of man’s inventiveness can be seen in the exploitation of a mountain variety of the ubiquitous euphorbia, or spurge, whose acrid milky juice, an irritant, was employed to stun river eels.