The day after we landed in Catania we had rented a car and drove up to the southern flank of the volcano. From there we went by the cable car up to the summit (I shall avoid mentioning the so called Jeep busses which took us the last part of the way to the summit craters).
Here is a picture of Etna taken from the highway between Catania and Messina.
As we walked from the guides 'Torre del Filosofo' mountain hut towards the summit craters, we could hear loud explosions coming from within the Bocca Nuova crater, from which steam was constantly being emitted. Also the Northeast crater vas erupting, as seen on the picture below.
Image taken a few seconds after a rather large detonation within the Northeast crater, The mushroom shaped cloud is actually just volcanic ash and steam.
Later we walked towards the resent lava flow emplaced a month before (and actually still active as seen later). The lava vas still very hot in some places, particularly in deep cracks from which fumaroles was seen occasionally (In some places the lava was still hot enough to melt the hard rubber soles on my boots). As we reached the eastern flank of the Southeast crater we could see still active, moving lava, within a lava channel build by cooled lava.
Lava flow viewed as it emerges from the feeder tunnel coming from the southeast crater. The lava appears to be moving uphill, but that is because I didn't hold my camera steady as I took the image.
As we walked towards the mountain hut again Etna made a beautiful 'fare well' eruption in which the Bocca Nuova produced a gas ring as seen on the image below. Although it was not as impressive as others reported (click here here for details), it was nevertheless a inspiring sight.
Etna blows a huge gas ring. The image was taken approx. 400 meters from the summit.
After returning to the mountain hut, the weather deteriorated and the clouds earlier seen surrounding the summit rose and covered the summit, thus preventing further observations. It is worth mentioning that later that evening and also the following evenings usually a red glow from lava-fountaning could be seen from Giadini-Naxox some 25 km away. Also on the 15. some large detonations could be heard in Catania and Giadini-Naxos, indicating explosive activity within the summit craters. (for further information on the activity of Etna in the time period of my visit refer to 12 to 17 October and 18 to 21 of October)
The last part of my trip to Sicily went without further spectacular events, although we were on the roof of our hotel in Giadini-Naxos every evening in order to see if we could see some activity on the summit.