What is Mount Etna?
[[File:EtnaAvió.JPG|thumb|right|Etna seen from a [[Fixed-wing aircraft|plane]].]] '''Mount Etna''' is a [[volcano]] on the east coast of [[Sicily]], part of southern Italy. It is the largest [[active volcano]] in [[Europe]]. Mount Etna erupts every few years. Etna's most destructive eruption in historic times started on 11 March 1669. It produced [[lava]] flows that destroyed 10 villages and reached the town of [[Catania]] five weeks later, on 15 April. Many buildings were destroyed and few people were killed. [[File:Etna eruption seen from the International Space Station.jpg|thumb|Etna's 2002 eruption, photographed from the [[International Space Station|ISS]]]] Major twentieth century eruptions occurred in 1928, 1949, 1971, 1983 and 1992, as well as the 2001 eruption. In 1971, it buried the Etna Observatory (built in the late 19th century) under lava. The 1992 eruption saw the town of [[Zafferana]] threatened by a lava flow, but successful diversion efforts saved the town with the loss of only one building a few hundred metres outside it. In 2002–2003, the biggest series of eruptions for many years threw up a huge column of ash that could easily be seen from space and fell as far away as [[Libya]], on the far side of the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. [[seismology|Seismic activity]] in this eruption caused the eastern flanks of the volcano to slip by up to two metres, and many houses on the flanks of the volcano were damaged. The eruption also destroyed the Rifugio Sapienza, a ski resort on the southern flank of the volcano. == Related pages == * [[List of volcanoes]] == References == * {{cite book | last = Chester | first = D.K. | display-authors = etal| title = Mount Eta: the anatomy of a volcano | url = https://archive.org/details/mountetnaanatomy0000unse | publisher = Stanford University Press | date = 1985 | pages= | isbn = 0-8047-1308-1 }} == Other websites == {{Commons|Etna}} * [http://www.ct.ingv.it/Ufso/Default.asp?Pagina=vulcano.asp&Vulcano=Ecv&Refresh=180 Mount Etna Live Webcam] {{Webarchive|url=ht