“That day, Etna bewitched me”: in Sicily, with the Etna watchmen
Located in eastern Sicily, Europe's most active volcano requires constant monitoring. This work is led by the Etna Observatory, whose members are largely locals proud of their unique relationship with the giant.
There are jobs that begin as a game. For many of Etna's guardians, that's what happened. Today, they have become volcanologists, petrologists, or seismologists. They analyze the emanations of Europe's largest and most active volcano, listen to the rumblings of its belly, place sensors almost on its smoking vents, and venture onto its incandescent flanks to collect lava samples for analysis.
These researchers from the Etna Observatory make forecasts and issue alerts in the event of a sudden awakening of the mountain, which is monitored 24 hours a day. The latest alert was given on the night of June 1-2 , when a spectacular – and anything but harmless – eruption emitted a column of ash 6.5 kilometers high.
“When it first erupted, I was 6 years old. It was in 1981, and my parents took me to Randazzo [one of the towns closest to the volcano] to see the lava engulfing the countryside,” says Gilda Currenti, a researcher at the Etna Observatory. “When the volcano rained ash, it was a party. The children would take their bikes and have fun skidding on the slippery asphalt,” recalls Stefano Branca, current director of the Observatory.
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