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Maps

 ‘Mt Etna’ 1:25,000 by Selca, Florence, is the most useable map for walkers, and is available at Area Etna Sud and bookshops in large towns.

 There is a clear 1:50,000 map ‘Parco dell’Etna’ put out by the TCI (Touring Club Italiano) in conjunction with the Catania Provincial Tourist Board.

 The Park Authority itself publishes a simplified diagram-cum-map in leaflet form (in English – ‘Etna Regional Park’) showing the location of highlights around the mountain and providing plenty of background information. However, it is not much help for walking.

WALK 5

The Craters of Monte Silvestri

Start/Finish Restaurant, Monte Silvestri Distance 2.2km/1.4 miles Grade 1–2 Time 1hr 20min Maps ‘Mt Etna’ 1:25,000, Selca Access Area Etna Sud (also referred to as Rifugio Sapienza) is located 21km from Nicolosi. It is served by daily AST runs from Catania via Nicolosi. Drivers will need the parking area near the restaurant shown on the map, a short distance east from the gondola-car lift and Rif. Sapienza, along the road for Zafferana Etnea. On foot, it’s a 5min stroll from the bus stop.

This route offers two easy but spectacular circuits around a number of colourful craters, long inactive. Ranging between altitudes of 1846–1908m above sea level, a good distance below the smoking summit of Etna, is the cluster of six craters belonging to Monte Silvestri. Strictly speaking they belong to the group of 300 or so adventive (or parasitic) lateral cones that have over time opened up on the flanks of the great giant – in this case along a radial fault during a six-month eruption in 1892. This batch is especially attractive for its rainbow of coloured soils – green, red, white, yellow – in addition to the wide-ranging panorama on offer.