Etna Lava Tubes Project was born with the aim of spreading knowledge of little-known or unpublished Etna caves. Natural phenomena among the most fascinating of our volcano. Many texts report that on Etna there are at least 260 known caves. In reality the formation of lava tubes is very common and the number of caves is destined to increase considerably. Below we report a census of little-known caves - for which information is not available elsewhere - or unpublished discovered by our team in particular by the founders of EtnaExcursion.it Dario & Paolo Teri. During an exploratory campaign that began "for fun" in 2018 and still (April 2023), about 70 have been found, not considered in the general count indicated above. Here we report only those considered most interesting from a naturalistic point of view. For the caves already surveyed we recommend a visit to EtnaNatura.it and Mungibeddu.it
Exploration: Only visitable with helmet and lights
Visited by Dario and Paolo Teri (on 15.6.2021)
Notified to the relevant municipality on \\
This lava flow cave can be reached from the trail (not well marked) that leads from Dagala dell'Orso to Grotta del Diavolo, which passes a few meters away. The cave entrances are not very visible and the cave is probably little known for this reason. The cavity has several entrances now marked by cairns. The development is divided into some environments a little disjointed by them and interrupted by some collapses of the vault. Overall, about 100 meters of development of the various sections of the hypogeum have been detected, but as mentioned, not continuous. The cave has a fair number of speleothems due to remelting and some "rolls". The name attributed, if it were not a cavity already catalogued, but from the information available, it would not appear, is dedicated to the freerider skier and mountaineer Carlo Alberto Cimenti, who visited Sicily and Etna in 2020 and unfortunately died due to an avalanche in spring 2021.
Dario Teri 15th June 2021 Unseen & Little-Known Etna Caves No Responses
Do you want to visit the caves of Etna?
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How are volcanic caves formed?
Lava tubes are very common on Etna. They form during an eruption ...
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16th August 2023 – On August 14th there was a paroxysm (a “lightning” eruption) from the summit craters which has already ended. Everything falls within the normal Etna phenomena. There is no danger for the population and visitors. The excursions are taking place regularly. GO TO NEWS