From 4 March to 14 July 2019, under the aegis of the Presidency of the Sicily Region, the review of cultural and scientific events "Etna 1669. Stories of lava" will take place dedicated to the great eruption of Etna in the seventeenth century, the most devastating and documented for the times.
The program of the review, also managed by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) - Etnean Observatory of Catania, provides for multiple appointments that will involve all the Municipalities involved in the historic event.
The largest lateral eruption of Etna, which occurred in the last four centuries, occurred on 11 March 1669 where, from the main vent located at an altitude of 800 m near Nicolosi, about 600 million m3 of lava were erupted, generating a field 17 km long lava in an area that today is located in the metropolitan area of Catania and, in particular, in the municipalities of Belpasso, Camporotondo Etneo, Catania, Gravina di Catania, Mascalucia, Misterbianco, Nicolosi, Pedara and San Pietro Clarenza.
Only on 11 July 1669 did the exceptional eruption end. In its evolution it reached the sea, creating "new lands" by moving the coastline by about a kilometre, and definitively changed the morphology of the lower southern slope of Etna, since the massive lava flow made about 40 km2 of the productive territory sterile. where the most urbanized Etna area was located.
By deepening the awareness of the nature of the Etna volcanic territory, the review aims to bring attention to an event which, with its grandeur, has heavily influenced the history of the Etna populations and which, due to its relevance on the subsequent socio-economic developments of the area , has been amply documented by the chronicles of the time and by the iconographic and goldsmith art above all of a religious nature.