Etna, Taormina and Isola Bella: Where the Lava Reached the Houses

Etna has been erupting for several million years, and this day starts on the south side, where pine woods grow straight out of black lava ground. One stop is at a past eruption, at the point where the flow reached the houses and took them. It is the least abstract thing on the mountain: everything else up here is geology, and that was somebody's street. The walk is on the Silvestri Craters, which are dead now and easy to walk into, with the summit above and the coast and Catania below. Going higher is possible, by cable car and then 4x4, up to the base of the summit area. On the way to Taormina the stop is at Oro dell'Etna in Zafferana Etnea, for the honeys made on volcanic ground. Taormina is pedestrian along Corso Umberto, the main street of the medieval town, with the shops on it. The Greek Theatre can be visited. The day also takes in Isola Bella, the small island below Taormina, joined to the shore by a narrow strip of sand.