Etna Summit Craters: Bocca Nuova, the Voragine and the True Peak at 3,329 m

The cable car and a 4x4 minibus take the group to 2,900 metres at the Torre del Filosofo. From there it is about an hour and a half of climbing to the rim of the Central Crater, with the Bocca Nuova below at 3,250 metres. That one opened in 1968 and is probably the most impressive of them. Working around the Bocca Nuova brings you to the edge of the Voragine, the heart of the Central Crater. A short steep climb from there reaches the North-East Crater, formed in 1911 and the actual summit of Etna at 3,329 metres. From the top the view runs the full circle, and on a clear day the Aeolian Islands are visible to the north. The descent is long but straightforward, down slopes of ash and scoria, and it crosses the volcanic amphitheatre of the Valle del Bove, a caldera 8 kilometres long and 4 wide, before returning to the cable car station at 2,500 metres. The itinerary can change according to what the volcano is doing or what the weather allows.