Experience Sicily

Tag: etna

  • 52 Reasons to Love Sicily | #7. Etna Shows Her Power

    Reaching 11,000 feet above sea level into the sky, its four active craters also give us spectacular lava shows (from a distance) that illustrate Mamma Etna’s potency. Etna’s expansive majesty is awe-inspiring for its beauty and its power. Don’t be afraid. She is a somewhat predictable volcano, and walking on her extinct craters and exploring…

  • Etna Awakened

    Sicilians are buzzing because Mount Etna erupted last evening. No fear, Mamma Etna woke from a sleep, which locals much prefer over the other option: an earthquake. Authorities are monitoring the activity and are not concerned. (View of Etna from Taormina during a 2017 eruption)

  • Sicily’s Inspired Pistachio Pesto

    Etna erupted last night! (NB This is an old photo.) Here she is from Bronte on the western slope with glorious pistachio trees in the foreground. Pistachios love the mineral and saline rich volcanic soil of Mamma Etna. It makes them taste so good! That’s why Sicilians invented pistachio pesto to go on pasta! Learn…

  • The Beginnings Of Etna In Aci Trezza

    Gli Scogli dei Ciclopi, the Rocks of the Cyclops, are basalt (volcanic) rocks that protrude from the sea at Aci Trezza, a fishing community on Sicily’s east coast, north of Catania. Local legend says that these are boulders from Mt. Etna, thrown here, into the sea, at Homer’s hero, Odysseus, after he and his men…

  • The Abundance Of Mount Etna In Sicily

    When you walk among the vines at a vineyard like Benanti Viticoltori with our friends at Etna Wine School on the slopes of Mount Etna, you see for yourself what those volcanic soils I mentioned yesterday produce. In this case, outstanding grapes for wine-making. But not only! The Etna region is known for its pistachios,…

  • Mount Etna’s First Flora

    When you walk on Etna’s craters you can imagine how rich the mineral-filled lavic soil will one day become. It takes 100 to 700 years for lava soil to support new vegetation growth. One of the first natural plants to return (and pictured here) is Sicilian astragalus. Others include camomile flowers, Etna rennet, and tansy…

  • People Watching In Taormina

    Perhaps Taormina’s best piazza for people watching is Piazza IX Aprile. The Church of San Giuseppe (from where this photo was taken) with its double stairway has held court here since the 17th century, while the historic Wunderbar Caffè (at my right from where I am standing) has played host to the likes of Truman…

  • Etna Wines Plus Excellent Company Equals A Memorable Evening

    It’s hard to capture the sense of enthusiasm and interest that flowed through us all last evening during our Etna Wine Box with Guided Synchronous Online Tasting and Discussion. This photo only gives a glimpse into the more than two hours spent on a virtual visit to Europe’s largest, most active volcano with author Benjamin…

  • A Palmento On Etna (Where The Magic Happened)

    A palmento is a building and the antique mechanism inside of it where wine grapes were made into juice (mosto) that eventually became wine. This outstanding palmento photographed at Benanti vineyard offers visitors an opportunity to understand the wine-making process from ancient times and how that translates to today’s stainless steal, squeaky-clean laboratories and cantinas.…