L'Etna et l'Alcantara en 4x4 : découvre une des 190 grottes de lave et le lit de la rivière, situé à 25 mètres de profondeur

SP4-I, Via Stabilimenti, 282, Santa Venerina

Mount Etna

The 4x4 leaves the Riviera dei limoni, the lemon coast, and climbs towards the Etna villages. The road onto the slopes runs along old mulattiere, the mule drivers' tracks, and the paths the charcoal burners used. At around 1,000 metres the protected area starts, 720 km² of it. Cold, hardened lava flows tear down the mountainside like black motorways. Around them there is chestnut, pine, oak and beech, along with the plants that grow nowhere else: the Etna birch and the Etna broom. Eruptive cones, flows and lava valleys stand out on all sides, the record of activity that has been shaping this mountain for more than 500,000 years. A nature trail inside the Etna Park leads towards the craters, and up to the top of a lateral one, part of a bottoniera, the line of vents a single eruption opens. A crater is a heap of pyroclastic material thrown out of the volcanic shaft, which settles around the vent and builds a cone. Standing on that rim puts you at the exact point where incandescent lava left the flank, and the guide explains how Etna's eruptions work from there. The lava turns out in a range of colours, and the pyroclastic rock in a range of consistencies you can feel by hand. Only a few plant species survive up here, where the conditions are extreme in both winter and summer. Deeper into the wood, a crevice opens in the ground: one of Etna's roughly 190 lava flow caves. The visit goes underground from there. Lunch is at a mountain hut that looks as if it had been moved down from the Alps. The food is the mountain half of Sicilian cooking, which the inland areas keep to themselves while the coast has the seafood.

Piano Provenzana

The 2002 eruption. A tasting of honey, typical products and liqueurs, including Fuoco dell'Etna.

Gola Dell'Alcantara

The descent leaves the protected area of the Etna Park for the Alcantara valley. The river appears first at the Castiglione di Sicilia bridge, and from there the road keeps meeting it until the gorges. The jeep gets left behind and the walk goes down to the riverbed. This is the deepest point of the Alcantara gorges, with basalt cliffs 25 metres high standing all around. The water is icy, and anyone willing can get in and go a few dozen metres into the gorge.