Three official signals decide what you can do on the mountain today. We fetch them every morning – here they are side by side.
Photo: Giuseppe Amenta · CC BY-SA 4.0
As of today
Three authorities assess Etna, and each one means something different. The Sicilian civil protection declares the alert phase, which decides who may enter the summit zone. The national civil protection sets the alert level for the bigger picture. The volcano institute INGV issues the colour code for air traffic. We fetch all three automatically at six every morning; every line shows the date it was fetched and its source.
The mountain is never completely closed. The cable car, the Silvestri craters and everything up to about 2,900 m (9,500 ft) are open in the phases Attenzione and Preallarme. What changes is the top: in Preallarme the summit crater zone is closed to everyone, even with a guide; in Allarme everything above roughly 2,500 m (8,200 ft) is closed and cleared. Which phase is in force this morning is shown in the first line below.
We cannot check that automatically; the airport decides hour by hour. Watch the aviation colour code in the third line below: Red means an ash cloud is rising right now and cancellations are possible but not certain – it depends on where the wind carries the ash. The only reliable sources are your airline and aeroporto.catania.it.
Attenzione is the normal state: the crater zone may be entered with a licensed mountain guide, everything below is free to visit. In Preallarme the crater zone is closed to everyone, even with a guide – the cable car, the 4x4 buses to about 3,000 m (9,850 ft) and all tours below that keep running. In Allarme everything above roughly 2,500 m (8,200 ft) is closed and evacuated.
Green, yellow, orange, red – set by the national civil protection in Rome and changed only after formal assessment rounds. On 26 June 2026 Etna went from green to yellow. Yellow means the volcano is active and the authorities are watching more closely. It does not mean the villages on the mountain are in danger or that anything is closed.
INGV reports it to pilots and air traffic control. Orange: the volcano is restless, ash is possible or stays at the summit. Red: an ash cloud is rising right now. Red does not close the mountain – but it is the signal at which Catania airport cancels flights at short notice.
The three phases
The phase changes with INGV's early-warning system ETNAS, which rates the probability of a lava fountain – sometimes several times a day. The phase our fetch reported this morning is marked. Tap another one to see what applies then.
Legal basis: notes of the Sicilian civil protection no. 28490 of 30 June 2023 and no. 37727 of 21 August 2025, implemented through ordinances of the summit municipalities, most recently Belpasso no. 135 of 10 August 2026. Our fetch is from 6 am – if you want to go up today, also check the notices of the Sicilian civil protection before you set off. How we check is explained on How we check.Etna eruption today
Etna does not erupt the way it does in films. It has been active without interruption for decades, and 2026 has been a loud year: a flank eruption in summer, several lava fountains in August, and ash clouds above the summit again since mid-September. The timeline, with sources.
Lava emerges in the upper Valle del Leone at around 3,000 m. The same day, the national civil protection raises the alert level from green to yellow.
A vent opens between Monte Rittmann and Monte Simone, a pyroclastic flow runs down and lava heads towards the Valle del Bove. The municipalities on the eastern flank close roads: the Mareneve between Fornazzo and the Rifugio Citelli, and the Via Paternò Castello near Sant'Alfio.
Several paroxysms. The Sicilian civil protection declares the Allarme phase three times; everything above roughly 2,500 m is cleared. Ash falls on Catania and the airport cancels hundreds of flights.
Notice no. 13: the early-warning system is back at F0, but the phase stays Preallarme – the crater zone remains closed to everyone. Whether a newer notice has appeared since is shown in the "Alert phase" line above.
The Osservatorio Etneo reports the end of the activity reported in August. The flank eruption is over; the summit continues to degas.
INGV describes degassing, almost continuous ash emission from the Northeast Crater and weak Strombolian activity at the Bocca Nuova.
Three times INGV sets the aviation code to red because an ash cloud is rising – on 24 September to about 4,000 m (13,100 ft), drifting south-southeast. Between the events the code stands at orange.
A look at the mountain
Two of the seven official cameras: the whole cone seen from Catania, and the summit craters from 2,600 m (8,500 ft). All seven, including the thermal cameras for the night, are on the webcam page. We fetch the images ourselves every 30 minutes; the time shown in the image is UTC.
Still images, not live streams: we fetch them ourselves every 30 minutes and store them here, so no request leaves your browser for another server. Times in UTC.
Getting there
The airport lies 30 km (19 miles) south of the summit and is the only major airport on the east coast. When ash falls, it is the first to suffer.
Not with every ash cloud. What matters is where the wind carries it: if it drifts south or southeast over the city, the airspace is closed sector by sector and flights are cancelled or diverted to Palermo and Comiso. In August 2026 hundreds of flights were affected on several days. When the aviation colour code above shows red, that is the moment to open your airline's app.
Build in a buffer on the day you fly home and check your flight status early. A closure usually lasts hours, rarely more than a day. If you are flexible, Comiso (around 100 km / 60 miles) and Palermo (around 210 km / 130 miles) are two alternative airports the ash rarely reaches. The airport publishes its current operating status on aeroporto.catania.it.
Weather
There is no authority we could fetch for the weather on the mountain – but three rules that almost always hold.
Between Catania at sea level and the top station at 2,500 m (8,200 ft) there is a gap of around 15 °C, up to 2,900 m almost 20. With 32 °C on the beach it is about 12 up there, plus wind. A windproof jacket, long trousers and sturdy shoes belong in your rucksack even in August – jackets and boots can be hired at the top station.
On most summer days cumulus clouds form around the summit towards midday and stay until evening. If you want to see the mountain, go early. Whether it is clear right now is shown better by the camera in Nicolosi on the webcam page than by any forecast.
In strong wind the Funivia suspends operations, and online tickets are not refunded. If the forecast is uncertain, buy your ticket at the bottom station instead. In winter there is snow above 1,800 m (5,900 ft) – then snowcats run instead of the 4x4 buses.
In brief
The mountain is never completely closed. The cable car, the Silvestri craters and the slopes up to about 2,900 m are accessible in the phases Attenzione and Preallarme. In Preallarme the crater zone is closed; in Allarme everything above roughly 2,500 m. Which phase applies today is shown in the first line at the top.
It is always active; the only question is how much. Whether ash is rising right now is shown by the aviation colour code: red means an ash cloud is on its way, orange means the mountain is restless but the ash stays at the summit. Whether a lava fountain is looming is shown by the alert phase.
Nobody can guarantee it. With ongoing activity and clear skies, the glow above the summit craters is often visible from the southern slopes after sunset – which is why the best tours leave in the afternoon. At night the thermal cameras on the webcam page show whether anything at the summit is hot.
We cannot check that automatically; the airport decides hour by hour. If the aviation colour code is red, a closure is possible but not certain – it depends on the wind direction. The only reliable sources are your airline and aeroporto.catania.it.
We fetch the alert level, the alert phase and the aviation colour code every day at 6 am, and the webcam images every 30 minutes. The alert phase can change during the day; if you want to go up, also check the notices of the Sicilian civil protection in the morning. The fetch date is shown on every line.
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Sources · accessed on 25.09.2026
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