February 16, 2021, seen from the Sigonella airfield: the first of about 50 paroxysms. Etna has not settled down since that evening – and an airport sits downwind of it.
Photo: U.S. Navy · CC BY 2.0
Yes, in an ash phase. Since the morning of September 24 the summit craters have been emitting ash again; the cloud stands about 4 kilometers (13,000 feet) above sea level and drifts south to southeast. It is not a lava fountain and not a lava flow: according to INGV the tremor is only at medium-low levels, as it was during the ash emissions on September 9 and 14–15. The aviation color code is red, and Catania airport keeps flying with reduced landings. The last flank eruption with lava ran from June 26 to August 21, 2026. Sicily's civil protection has held the Preallarme phase since August 22: crater zone closed, the rest of the mountain open. What was reported this morning is on Mount Etna – this page is the record.
Height above sea level according to INGV (about 13,000 feet), heading south to southeast. The latest weekly bulletin names the Northeast Crater and the Bocca Nuova as the sources; the Voragine and the Southeast Crater show only fumaroles. Four earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more in the week, the strongest 2.4.
Instead of 12 in normal operation. On September 24 from 1:30 p.m. first 5, in the evening 10; the rule runs until 11 p.m. on September 25. Departures are normal. On September 15 the airport was closed completely until 10 p.m.
About 36 percent canceled, roughly 630 diverted – the operator SAC's figures for the strongest phase in years: nine new vents, a lava field in the Valle del Bove, ash columns up to 7 kilometers (23,000 feet), the Allarme phase on four days.
Etna does not erupt "now and then" – it is active almost all the time. Since February 16, 2021 it has been in a phase that INGV, taking everything together, compares with the great eruptions of the past 350 years: first about 50 short, violent lava fountains (paroxysms) from the Southeast Crater, then the collapse of part of the cone with a pyroclastic flow, in 2024 the return of the Voragine, in 2025 two small flank eruptions and the largest pyroclastic flow since 1986, in 2026 the strongest summer phase in years. One thing stands out: every vent opened above 1,900 meters (6,200 feet), almost all of them in the uninhabited Valle del Bove. The lava was never a threat to the towns – the ash was, constantly.
At first the Southeast Crater delivers a fountain every one or two days, over a kilometer (3,300 feet) high, with ash columns several kilometers tall. Ashfall reaches Catania, the airport closes repeatedly. By July the cone has grown to 3,357 meters (11,014 feet, ±3 m, Pléiades satellite data) and overtakes the Northeast Crater, which had stood at 3,350 meters since 1981 and had sunk to 3,326 by 2018. According to INGV, the magma volume of the series matches one of the largest eruptions of the past 350 years.
A paroxysm with fountains up to 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) and a column up to 12 kilometers (39,000 feet). At 9:34 p.m. the first pyroclastic flow runs off, at 10:26 p.m. the south flank of the cone collapses; the flows reach about 1.6 kilometers (1 mile), roughly one million cubic meters. Ash falls as far as the Tyrrhenian coast. Another paroxysm on February 21, on May 29 a collapse with a lava flow. The February 10 flow is the basis of the summit-zone hazard map published in 2025. Since April 1, 2022 the ETNAS early-warning system has been running.
May 21 almost unnoticed under clouds, August 13–14 with fountains from 6:30 p.m. and ash to the south, November 12 with a column of 4.5 kilometers (15,000 feet), December 1 with fountains and overflows. On August 14 Catania is closed completely until 1 p.m. because of sectors C1 and B3; in November ash falls on Milo and Zafferana while the airport stays open. On December 1 the Southeast Crater measures 3,354 meters (11,004 feet).
After more than three years of quiet the Voragine wakes up on June 14. Paroxysms on July 4 (from 6:15 p.m., column 4,500 meters / 14,800 feet), July 7 and 23, August 4 and 15. On July 4–5 ash falls over Catania, the airport is closed until 3 p.m., the mayor bans two-wheelers and sets a 30 km/h limit for 48 hours; on July 23 and August 14–15 the airport closes again. The rim of the Voragine rises 107 meters to 3,369 and, after the drone survey of September 12, to 3,403 meters (11,165 feet) – the highest point ever measured on Etna.
A fissure at 3,050 meters (10,000 feet) at the southern foot of the Bocca Nuova sends a flow more than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) long southwest to about 2,480 meters (8,100 feet); on February 16 it cuts the Altomontana forest road. Thousands of onlookers in the snow, steam explosions at the front, warnings from civil protection. Then from March 15 to June 19 fifteen mostly modest episodes at the Southeast Crater.
A nighttime paroxysm; part of the north flank of the Southeast Crater breaks away and produces a pyroclastic flow into the Valle del Leone, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) long – according to INGV probably the largest documented since 1986. The cloud rises to 6.5 kilometers (21,000 feet). ETNAS had given warning; at 6:28 p.m. INGV declares the phase over. Videos of fleeing hikers go around the world, no injuries are reported, the airport stays open.
A fissure at about 3,100 meters (10,200 feet) between the Southeast Crater and the Bocca Nuova, lava only 150 meters (500 feet) long; from August 14 again from 2,980 meters down to about 2,400 meters (7,900 feet) on the south-southwest flank, on August 20 more fissures with spattering. Thousands watch the flows from a safe distance, no damage. On August 21, 2025 the new delimitation of the summit zone (ZS and ZPP) takes effect, and every closure since has followed it.
After almost 28 years, paroxysms at the Northeast Crater again: on the morning of December 27 fountains of 100 to 150 meters with a column up to 8 kilometers (26,000 feet), in the afternoon 400 to 500 meters (1,300–1,600 feet) with a column over 10 kilometers (33,000 feet); from the east flank of the Voragine a lava flow almost 2 kilometers long. On January 1, 2026 a fissure opens at 2,100 meters (6,900 feet) above Monte Simone on the northern rim of the Valle del Bove (about 5 cubic meters per second). The lava field grows to 3.4 kilometers (2.1 miles), the front stands at 1,360 meters (4,460 feet) near Rocca Capra on January 4; from January 6 it declines. Everything stays in the uninhabited valley.
From June 10 ash from a pit crater, from June 22 rising tremor; on June 26 lava emerges at about 3,030 meters (9,940 feet) into the upper Valle del Leone (1.2 kilometers, 260,000 cubic meters). The same day the national civil protection raises the alert level from green to yellow. On July 5 from 7:45 a.m. ash emission from the Voragine, cloud about 4.5 kilometers (14,800 feet) above sea level, VONA red: sector B2 closed until 7 p.m. and C1 until 5 a.m., arrivals suspended; on July 6 arrivals and departures are canceled until noon, diversions to Comiso.
From 3:30 a.m. Strombolian activity at the Voragine, from 9 a.m. an ash column about 7 kilometers (23,000 feet) high drifting west, at 9:59 a.m. a small pyroclastic flow into the Valle del Bove; the fountain lasts until 1:40 a.m. on July 31. At 8:49 p.m. a fissure opens at 2,700 meters (8,860 feet) in the Valle del Leone: lava flow 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles), 500,000 cubic meters, front at 1,700 to 1,750 meters near Rocca Capra. Ashfall on Bronte. On August 2 INGV confirms the end.
From the evening of August 6 until 4 a.m. a violent fountain at the Voragine. On August 7 a vent opens at 2,750 meters (9,020 feet), on August 8 at 11:30 a.m. one at 2,360 meters (7,740 feet) at Monte Rittmann, whose opening triggers landslides and small pyroclastic flows; more vents on August 10 (1,900 m) and August 11 (2,090 m). On August 13 the lava fronts stand at about 1,340 meters (4,400 feet) around Rocca Capra, ash columns up to 6,000 meters (19,700 feet); on August 15 an earthquake of Ml 3.9 on the Pernicana fault; on August 17 a fissure at the Northeast Crater at 3,000 meters. Lava from the 1,900-meter vent stops on August 21; on August 26 INGV sets VONA to green. From August 7 to 17 alone, 5.6 to 7.6 million cubic meters of lava. Sicily's civil protection declares the Allarme phase on August 13, 16, 17 and 19 – summit zone closed, Guardia di Finanza at the barriers; Milo and Sant'Alfio close the Mareneve road to Rifugio Citelli, 200 meters minimum distance from the lava. Catania airport: ash on the runway from August 10, closed until 6 a.m. on August 11; on August 17–18 sector B1 closed, 10 landings per hour; according to SAC about 1,900 flights affected. Heavy ashfall in Valverde, Viagrande, San Gregorio, San Giovanni la Punta and Catania; Trecastagni and other towns ban two-wheelers.
September 1 VONA orange, September 4 red (weak ash to the south-southwest), September 9 ash column about 5 kilometers (16,000 feet) to the east-southeast, September 14 landings suspended until 4 p.m. (sector C1, diversions to Palermo), September 15 airport closed until 10 p.m. (sectors C1 and B3, diversions to Comiso and Palermo), September 18 declining activity without a cloud (orange). The Northeast Crater and the Bocca Nuova take turns emitting ash; in the night of September 15–16 weak Strombolian activity at vent BN1. On September 24 from 5 a.m. ash again up to about 4 kilometers, VONA red, 5 and then 10 landings per hour. No lava flows, no injuries, crater zone closed.
Photo: Alessio Bivona 70 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Since April 1, 2022 INGV's early-warning system has rated the probability of a lava fountain (levels F0, F1, F2) and of a magma intrusion (I0, I1) around the clock and alerts civil protection and the mountain guides automatically. F1 and F2 typically come minutes to a few hours before the peak – as on June 2, 2025. The civil protection phase is tied to these levels and changes without a new ordinance, in August 2026 several times on the same day.
Since August 21, 2025 note no. 37727 of the DRPC Sicilia applies: the Zona Sommitale (ZS) covers the summit craters, the upper Valle del Bove down to about 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) and the flanks above roughly 2,500 meters (8,200 feet). Inside it lies the Zona a Pericolosità Permanente (ZPP), the area of the active craters, where a guide is mandatory regardless of the phase. The old "Zona Gialla" is history; the boundary is marked on the ground with posts, ropes and signs.
The eastern rim of the Voragine after INGV's drone survey of September 12, 2024. Before that, 3,357 meters at the Southeast Crater (2021) and 3,350 meters at the Northeast Crater (1981). The figure changes with every paroxysm and every collapse; we know of no newer survey. The civil protection page still gives about 3,350 meters.
Four months, about 600 million cubic meters of lava, a lava field of 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) and 17 kilometers (11 miles) long – civil protection calls 1669 the largest eruption of Etna in historical times. It is the yardstick for the worst the mountain can do to Catania: a vent low on the flank, close to the towns. And it is the reason why lava flows from low flank vents are the main scenario of civil protection planning – and why the summit eruptions of recent years, for all their pictures, were harmless for the cities.
Earthquakes from late February; on March 10–11 they destroy the village of Nicolosi. On the afternoon of March 11 a fissure opens on the south flank at only about 800 meters (2,600 feet) above sea level (INGV: between 775 and 850 meters, east of Monte Salazara). Strombolian activity at the vent builds the double cone of the Monti Rossi within a few months – contemporaries call it the "monte della ruina".
The flow runs south and southeast and buries Nicolosi, Mompilieri, Camporotondo, San Pietro and Misterbianco one after the other; several villages and wide stretches of farmland are lost. The lava is slow enough for people to get out of its way.
On April 16 the lava reaches the city wall of Catania, on April 23 the sea. On April 30 a 57-meter (190-foot) stretch of wall between the Infetti and Tindaro bastions gives way under the pressure, and lava enters the city.
The flow creates more than a kilometer of new land along the coast, on which new city districts are later built; the Castello Ursino, once on the sea, has stood inland ever since. The eruption kills no one. The "20,000 dead" circulating online come from a mix-up with the earthquake of 1693.
Etna has produced dozens of flank eruptions since 1669; INGV counts one every two years or so on average over the past 40 years. Here are the events that hit towns, people or the infrastructure on the mountain – more compact than the years since 2021, with the figures for which solid sources exist.
A violent eruption on the west flank that seriously threatens Bronte. When the lava front meets wet ground it explodes (phreatomagmatic). At least 36 dead according to the Italian Wikipedia, about 60 forestry workers according to other counts – the worst disaster in Etna's history. The number is uncertain; what is certain is that it was the lava front, not the crater.
For about six months a fissure at roughly 1,900 meters (6,200 feet) on the south flank erupts; the cones of the Monti Silvestri form – the craters visited today right at Rifugio Sapienza, with no guide and no ticket. No towns affected.
After ash activity at the Northeast Crater, fissures open at 2,600, 2,100 and – on November 4 – 1,200 meters (3,900 feet); the lowest flow runs down the bed of the Pietrafucile toward Mascali. On November 7 it reaches the town and destroys it completely except for the outlying district of Sant'Antonino; the Circumetnea railway (November 6) and the Messina–Catania line (November 11) are cut. About 50 million cubic meters of lava over 4.38 square kilometers. Mascali is rebuilt elsewhere. It is the only destruction of a town on Etna since the 18th century – and the last to this day.
Fissures from the summit down into the Valle del Bove. The old volcano observatory near the Torre del Filosofo is destroyed, lava approaches Fornazzo. In the process the Southeast Crater forms – the crater that has produced most of the paroxysms since 2011.
A 30-second explosion from the Bocca Nuova hurls blocks of rock up to the crater rim, where about 150 visitors are standing. Nine dead and 23 injured according to the Global Volcanism Program (the Italian Wikipedia gives about 30 injured). The event that led to the guide requirement in the crater zone, which still applies today.
131 days on the south flank between 2,450 and 2,250 meters, about 100 million cubic meters of lava; buildings and tourist facilities around Rifugio Sapienza are destroyed. The first attempt anywhere in the world to divert a lava flow with explosives.
A phreatic explosion kills two people from a group of about 30 visitors standing roughly 500 meters (1,600 feet) from the crater; seven injured. No death from volcanic activity on Etna has been documented since.
The longest eruption of the 20th century: fissures at the foot of the Southeast Crater between 3,100 and 2,200 meters, lava into the Valle del Bove and the Val Calanna. Chestnut groves, orchards, farmhouses and the springs of Zafferana's water supply are buried. An earth barrier 234 meters long and 21 meters high at the Portella Calanna holds until April 8, 1992; on April 12 the cabinet declares a state of emergency. Blasting in May diverts the flow; on May 31, 1992 the lava stops about 700 meters (2,300 feet) short of the Sciara district.
24 days; vents on the south and northeast flanks between 2,950 and 1,030 meters (3,380 feet), a new crater at Piano del Lago. The upper station of the cable car is destroyed, pylons damaged, Rifugio Sapienza seriously threatened, the SP 92 road cut. Catania airport closes on July 21 and August 1, followed by weeks of ashfall; 25 to 40 million cubic meters of lava. It is the last eruption with a vent below 1,900 meters.
After an earthquake crisis, fissures open on the north and south flanks at the same time during the night: vents at 2,750 and 2,800 meters (south) and 1,900 meters (northeast). On the morning of October 27 lava buries the tourist village of Piano Provenzana with its hotels and shops; the Rifugio Torre del Filosofo disappears for good. An earthquake of Md 4.4 on October 29 with its epicenter at Santa Venerina damages eight municipalities, more than 3,000 buildings are declared uninhabitable, up to 1,120 people live in emergency shelters. Ash reaches Libya and Greece, Catania airport closes for days at a time; about 160 million cubic meters of material. Rifugio Sapienza survives – earth barriers built by the army hold the lava back.
417 days, the longest flank eruption since 1991–93. After more than 230 earthquakes in six hours (strongest M 3.9) a fissure opens at 2,800 meters east of the Northeast Crater. Lava flows up to 5 kilometers (3 miles) into the uninhabited valley, ashfall as far as Milazzo, no damage in towns.
About 50 short, violent fountain episodes from a vent on the east flank of the Southeast Crater, which grows into the "Nuovo Cratere di Sud-Est"; fountains often more than a kilometer high, the most explosive paroxysm on November 23, 2013. Repeated closures of Catania airport. The first big paroxysm series – the blueprint for 2021.
In the night of December 3 (about 02:20 to 03:10 UTC) the Voragine fires a fountain well over a kilometer high, individual ejecta up to 3 kilometers; the eruption column rises to about 15 kilometers (49,000 feet) according to satellite analysis. Ashfall as far as Reggio Calabria (70 kilometers / 43 miles), Catania airport closed. More paroxysms on December 4 and 5.
On December 24 more than 130 earthquakes in a little over three hours, then a fissure opens at the foot of the Southeast Crater; ash column, airspace over Catania closed from 2 p.m. On December 26 at 02:19 UTC an earthquake of Mw 4.9 follows on the Fiandaca fault between Fleri and Pennisi – the strongest ever recorded instrumentally on Etna, with 8 kilometers (5 miles) of surface ruptures. Heavy damage in Fleri, Pennisi, Fiandaca, Santa Maria La Stella and Aci Platani; no deaths, many people left homeless. The lesson: on Etna the shallow earthquakes of the east flank do more damage than the lava.
Photo: Leo Wehrli / ETH-Bibliothek Zürich · CC BY-SA 4.0
| 1792–93 · 1852–53 · 1865 · 1879 · 1886 | Lava fields on the southeast and west flanks threaten Zafferana Etnea and Adrano · the Monti Centenari form in the Valle del Bove, Zafferana is spared · the row of cones of the Monti Sartorius above Fornazzo, today a hiking trail · fissures on the southwest and northeast flanks at the same time, the Alcantara river threatened · in 1886 Nicolosi is evacuated, the lava stops short of the town. |
| 1910 · 1911 · 1923 | Lava passes about a kilometer west of Nicolosi, Belpasso threatened (Monti Riccò) · the Northeast Crater forms, in September lava approaches Solicchiata · about 3 square kilometers of vineyards near Linguaglossa destroyed, the station of Castiglione di Sicilia damaged. |
| 1950–51 · 1981 | 372 days from a fissure in the Valle del Bove (2,820–2,250 m), about 171 million cubic meters, Milo and Zafferana threatened · March 17–23, 1981: a fissure reaching down to 1,115 meters (3,660 feet), unusually fast flows cut roads and the Circumetnea railway, the lava stops about 2 kilometers short of Randazzo. |
| 2004–05 · 2006 | The "quiet eruption": seven months of lava into the Valle del Bove from fissures between 2,850 and 2,350 meters, hardly any explosions, no damage · in 2006 two phases at the Southeast Crater (July 14–25, September 4 to December 15). |
| March 16, 2017 | A lava flow from the Southeast Crater meets snow; the steam explosion hurls blocks at a BBC crew, tourists and an INGV volcanologist. Ten injured, none seriously – the reminder that a lava front on snow or wet ground can explode at any time. |
Photo: NASA, ISS Expedition 5 · Public domain
On Etna the question is different from Vesuvius: the mountain is active practically all the time, and what people really want to know is when the next fountain or the next flank vent will come. INGV publishes no dates, only scenarios. In its weekly bulletin of September 22, 2026 it continues to expect frequent explosions at the summit craters with ash clouds and lava emissions in the summit area – and explicitly does not rule out a rapid escalation with eruption columns and the collapse of parts of the craters with pyroclastic flows. Figures like "x percent in the next few years" do not exist. In 2024 INGV specifically clarified that the scenarios in its bulletins describe the range of possible activity and are not a forecast of an eruption.
ETNAS reports F1 (high probability) and F2 (very high) typically minutes to a few hours before the peak. Anyone up there hears it from the guides and the closures – which is why a guide is mandatory in the crater zone.
On average over the past 40 years according to INGV. Since 2000: 2001, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006, 2008–09, 2018, 2025 and 2026 – eight or nine depending on how you count. Flank eruptions usually announce themselves hours ahead with earthquake swarms and ground deformation: in 2018 with 130 quakes in three hours, in 2008 with 230 in six.
Lava reaching the towns as in 1669 or 1928 requires a vent low on the flank. Since 2001 every vent has opened above about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet), in 2026 above 1,900 meters (6,200 feet) in the uninhabited Valle del Bove. Whether and when that changes, nobody predicts.
Photo: The Cosmonaut · CC BY-SA 2.5 ca
On Etna, "eruption" rarely means "mountain closed". Sicily's civil protection declares one of three phases, and that phase decides how high you get: in Attenzione the crater zone is open with a guide, in Preallarme only the crater zone is closed, in Allarme everything above about 2,500 meters (8,200 feet). The phase is tied to ETNAS and can change several times a day – in August 2026 Allarme applied on four days, with Preallarme in between. The phase our morning check reported today is marked.
The limits of 2,500, 2,750 and 2,900 meters come from older ordinances (Nicolosi 2022: 2,500 m; south side 2,700–2,750 m; north side 2,920 m). Since the delimitation of August 21, 2025 what counts is the ZS/ZPP boundary marked on the ground, not a fixed elevation. As orientation it still works: Attenzione – without a guide up to the ZPP boundary, roughly the end points of the 4x4 buses (about 2,900 m south, 2,920 m north); Preallarme – ZPP closed, buses and trails open to about 2,900 m; Allarme – everything above about 2,500 m closed, including the upper station of the cable car and the upper trails from Piano Provenzana.
The Guardia di Finanza and the forestry corps staff the barriers on the south and north sides; violations of the closures are reported under article 650 of the Italian penal code. In the summer of 2026 the Guardia di Finanza reported 13 volcano guides and one mountain guide who had led groups up despite the closure. The latest DRPC Sicilia notice is always what counts; the mayors implement it with ordinances, most recently Belpasso no. 135 of August 10, 2026. Which tours run in which phase: Mount Etna tours.
| Green | No ash cloud, return to the previous state. Most recently on August 26, 2026 after the end of the summer eruption. |
| Yellow | Heightened unrest at the volcano, no ash in the air. |
| Orange | Weak ash emission without a sustained column – the ash stays at the summit. Most recently from September 18 to 24, 2026. |
| Red | Ash at heights that endanger flight routes. It is a notice to pilots and air traffic controllers, not a closure: whether and how Catania is restricted is decided by the airport's crisis unit based on wind direction and ash concentration. In force since September 24, 2026. |
Catania-Fontanarossa airport lies 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the summit; its operations coordination unit (operator SAC with ENAV and ENAC) decides hour by hour. Depending on the wind, airspace sectors above the volcano are closed (the reports name B1, B2, B3, C1) and landings per hour are reduced: 12 in normal operation, 10 or 5 with ash, zero with ash on the runway until it is cleaned. Departures often remain possible while arrivals are diverted to Palermo or Comiso. Examples from 2026: July 5–6 full closure until noon; August 10–11 closure until 6 a.m.; August 17–18 sector B1 closed, 10 landings per hour; September 15 closure until 10 p.m.; September 24–25 5 and then 10 landings per hour. Since 2021 no closure has lasted longer than about a day at a stretch – the rule is reduction, not shutdown. In practice: check your flight status with the airline on the day of travel, allow a day's buffer before return flights, and know the alternates Comiso (about 100 km / 60 miles) and Palermo (about 200 km / 125 miles). SAC publishes the operating status on aeroporto.catania.it.
When ash falls on the city, the mayors issue ordinances following a well-rehearsed pattern – Catania on July 5, 2024, Trecastagni, Aci Catena, Gravina and other towns in August 2026: a ban on two-wheelers and a 30 km/h speed limit across the municipality, usually for 48 hours; residents sweep the ash from yards and balconies into small containers and put them out in front of the house, the city clears streets and drains. For you that means: drive the rental car slowly, leave the scooter parked, and never run the wipers dry over the ash – it grinds like sandpaper. Close the windows, wear an FFP2 mask if you have breathing problems. Tap water stays clean. Whether Catania issued the same ordinance in August 2026 as in 2024, we have not seen in full text.
Photo: gnuckx · CC BY 2.0
In Preallarme, as today: from the upper station of the cable car (about 2,500 meters / 8,200 feet) and with the 4x4 bus to about 2,900 meters (9,500 feet) you see the summit craters from roughly a kilometer away – ash puffs by day, glow from the Bocca Nuova or the Northeast Crater at night when Strombolian activity is running there, which it was at times in September 2026. The craters themselves are off limits. In Attenzione, guided tours to the ZPP boundary with a view of the crater terrace are added. In Allarme nothing goes above 2,500 meters – then you watch from the towns at the foot, from the Mareneve road or from the coast. Fountains of 500 meters and ash columns of 7 kilometers can be seen from all of eastern Sicily and from Calabria; the problem is never the distance, always the wind.
Rifugio Sapienza (1,900 m / 6,200 ft) and the Crateri Silvestri are freely accessible and face the summit craters; the viewpoint at the Schiena dell'Asino opens the view into the Valle del Bove, where the lava ran in 2026. The south gets ashfall most often – with a north wind, choose the other side.
The Mareneve road and Piano Provenzana (1,800 m / 5,900 ft) are closest to the Northeast Crater paroxysms – unless closed: in August 2026 Milo and Sant'Alfio shut the Mareneve to Rifugio Citelli, with a 200-meter minimum distance from the lava front.
Zafferana Etnea and Milo look straight into the Valle del Bove, Bronte and Adrano at the west flank – the photo of the Voragine above was taken in Adrano. Where it is best on a given day depends on where the wind carries the ash. Keep at least 50 meters (160 feet) from lava flows under the ordinances (Belpasso, Nicolosi), 200 meters in the Milo/Citelli area; at night only with a local guide, in winter only with winter gear.
Photo: Andrew Malone · CC BY 2.0
Affiliate links to GetYourGuide: if you book, we earn a commission and the price stays the same. Prices and ratings as of 21.09.2026. How high you get on the day is set by the morning's alert phase, not by the tour title. Whether there is glow to see is up to the mountain.
Photo: Cayambe · CC BY 4.0
On Mount Etna: we fetch the national alert level every morning at 6 a.m., and the alert phase and aviation color code are explained there. This page is the record with a fixed date; the status lines at the top show today's check.
Rarely all of them. In Preallarme only the crater tours are dropped; sunset and 3,000-meter tours keep running. In Allarme every tour ends below about 2,500 meters or is postponed. Cable car tickets are not refunded on a volcano alert – when the situation is uncertain, buy at the lower station.
Upwind and from a distance: with a south wind from Piano Provenzana and the Mareneve road in the north, with a north wind from Rifugio Sapienza and the Schiena dell'Asino in the south; Zafferana and Milo look into the Valle del Bove, Bronte and Adrano at the west flank. Fountains and ash columns are visible from all of eastern Sicily.
Yes, in an ash phase: since September 24, 2026 the summit craters (mainly the Northeast Crater and the Bocca Nuova) have been emitting ash up to about 4 km, the aviation color code is red, the tremor is only medium-low – no lava fountain, no lava flow. Sicily's civil protection has held the PREALLARME phase since August 22, 2026: crater zone closed, the rest of the mountain open.
The last flank eruption with lava flows ran from June 26 to August 21, 2026 (Valle del Leone, Monte Rittmann, nine vents); INGV set the color code to green on August 26. Since September 1 ash emissions from the summit craters have followed, most recently from September 24. The last big paroxysm with fountains was on August 6–7, 2026 at the Voragine.
Nobody gives a date. INGV continues to expect frequent explosions at the summit and does not rule out a rapid escalation; flank eruptions have come about every two years on average over the past 40 years. Fountains are usually reported by the ETNAS early-warning system minutes to hours in advance, flank eruptions by earthquake swarms.
As of September 25, 2026: open but reduced – 10 landings per hour until 11 p.m. (normally 12), departures as usual. With ash on the runway it closes for a few hours (most recently September 15, 2026 until 10 p.m., August 10–11, 2026 until 6 a.m.). Check your flight status with the airline before heading to the airport; the alternates are Comiso and Palermo.
Usually yes, just not up to the craters. In PREALLARME (today) the cable car and 4x4 buses run to about 2,900 m, guided crater tours are canceled. Only in ALLARME – on four days in August 2026 – is everything above about 2,500 m closed. The latest DRPC Sicilia notice is what counts.
To lava flows at least 50 m under the ordinances (Belpasso, Nicolosi), 200 m in the Milo/Citelli area in August 2026; to the foot of the Southeast Crater at least 300 m, and in the crater zone only with a guide. Explosions at lava fronts are possible with snow or moisture – in 2017 they injured ten people.
For towns rarely: lava last destroyed a town in 1928 (Mascali) and reached Catania in 1669. What is dangerous are explosions at the crater (nine dead in 1979, two in 1987), earthquakes on the east flank (2018 Fleri, Mw 4.9) and ashfall for traffic, roofs and airways. If you respect the closures, you are safer on Etna than on a Sicilian country road.
Practically all the time. In series years there were about 50 paroxysms (2011–13, 2021), flank eruptions eight or nine times since 2000. INGV gives one flank eruption about every two years on average over the past 40 years.
77 in recorded history up to 2001 (Behncke), most of them in 1843 near Bronte when a lava front exploded. Since 1970: nine dead in 1979 at the Bocca Nuova and two in 1987 at the Southeast Crater. No death from volcanic activity has been documented since 1987; accidents with ice, sleds and falls, however, occurred as recently as January 2025.
From lava only with a vent low on the south flank as in 1669 – since 2001 all vents have lain above 1,000 m, in 2026 above 1,900 m in the uninhabited Valle del Bove. What hits Catania regularly is ash: July 2024 and August 2026 with a two-wheeler ban and 30 km/h limit, reduced airport operations in September 2026.
Follow the municipal ordinances: no scooter, no bicycle, 30 km/h, sweep the ash into small containers and put them out in front of the house. In the car, do not run the wipers dry, check the filters; close the windows, wear an FFP2 mask if you have breathing problems; stocking up on water is not necessary, ash does not contaminate the mains supply.
Vesuvius – for the people at its foot: it has been plugged since 1944, its next eruption is likely to be explosive, 700,000 people would have to get out beforehand. Etna is open and constantly active, its eruptions are mostly effusive; for visitors it is the more spectacular, for residents the more predictable.
When activity is running, yes: glow at the Bocca Nuova or the Northeast Crater is visible from the upper station and the towns, fountains and lava flows from all of eastern Sicily. In September 2026 there is no lava flow; the Strombolian activity of the Bocca Nuova was visible only at night on September 15–16. Going up at night only with a guide.
3,403 m at the eastern rim of the Voragine according to INGV's drone survey of September 12, 2024 – higher than ever measured. In 2021 it was 3,357 m (Southeast Crater), in 1981 3,350 m (Northeast Crater). The figure can change with every paroxysm.
The highest of four levels of INGV's notice to aviation: ash at heights that endanger flight routes. It is information for pilots and air traffic controllers, not a closure; whether and how Catania is restricted is decided by the airport's crisis unit based on wind direction.
1669: lava from 800 m above sea level near Nicolosi buried several villages, broke through the city wall of Catania on April 30 and created new land in the sea – 600 million m³ over 40 km², but no deaths. The greatest disaster was in 1843 near Bronte (at least 36 dead from an explosion at the lava front).
Two small flank eruptions on the southwest side (February 8 – March 2 with lava down to 2,480 m in the snow; August 9–20), fifteen episodes at the Southeast Crater until June, on June 2 a collapse of the Southeast Crater with a 3 km long pyroclastic flow, and at Christmas the return of the Northeast Crater with a column over 10 km, followed by a fissure at 2,100 m on January 1, 2026.
January: lava flow in the Valle del Bove down to 1,360 m. From June 26 a summer phase with three episodes, nine new vents, 7 km columns and about 1,900 flights affected, alert level yellow since June 26, ALLARME on four days in August. Since September 1 an ash phase, most recently from September 24 with VONA red and reduced airport operations.
Sources · accessed on 25 September 2026
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