Pictures: Mount Etna Eruptions Light the Italian Night

Gentle Volcanic Giant

Photograph by Marcello Paternostro, AFP/Getty Images

Mount Etna's lava oozes down a hillside behind a church in Sicily on July 30.

Despite its nearly constant activity, the Sicilian volcano rarely causes harm, since Etna's eruptions occur so high up and its lava moves relatively slowly.

"We do not have a love-hate relationship with Etna," Salvatore Moschetto, mayor of nearby Nicolosi told National Geographic magazine in 2001. "We have a love relationship." (Preview the National Geographic article "Etna Ignites.")

Published August 9, 2011

Etna's Fiery Columns

Photograph by Orietta Scardino, European Pressphoto Agency

Columns of fiery lava erupt skyward from Mount Etna on July 30.

The Sicilian giant has captivated Mediterranean minds at least since the classical era, when Plato sailed from Greece just for a peek at it in 387 B.C. and when—legend has it—Odysseus dodged boulders hurled by a Cyclops on Etna.

(See more volcano pictures.)

Published August 9, 2011

Seeing Red on Sicily

Photograph by Marcello Paternostro, AFP/Getty Images

Mount Etna reddens the night sky over the Sicilian town of Catania on July 30.

The volcano's most destructive eruption in history went on for four months in 1669, singeing a dozen villages, breaking through Catania's city walls, and finally steaming to a standstill in the sea.

(Related: "Italy's Etna First Active Volcano to Get 'CT Scan.'")

Published August 9, 2011

Dirty Job on Etna

Photograph by Carsten Peter, National Geographic

It's unknown why Mount Etna—shown with a geologist in a 1993 picture—has grown increasingly active in the last 50 years.

Recent mineral tests, though, suggested a deep new lava source may be fanning the flames, National Geographic magazine reported in 2002.

(Related: "Etna Becoming Dangerous, Experts Say.")

Published August 9, 2011

Night Lights

Photograph by Carsten Peter, National Geographic

A shower of lava rivals the glow of Catania's city lights in a 2001 picture. Though 2010 was an unusually calm year for Etna, the volcano erupted four times in July alone, according to CBS News.

(See "Mount Etna Morphing to More Explosive Volcano, Study Says.")

Published August 9, 2011