Etna Lava Tubes Project was born with the aim of spreading knowledge of little-known or unpublished Etna caves.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 Below we report a census of little-known caves - for which information is not available elsewhere - or unpublished discovered by our team in particular by the founders of EtnaExcursion.it Dario & Paolo Teri.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: Can be visited with speleological equipment.
Explored by: Dario Teri, Paolo Teri 27.10.2022
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The Grotta del Vento is located in the immense lava field of the Sciara del Follone. It is a fairly simple cavity to visit, at least in its initial part. A beautiful entrance exposed to the north is characterized by the rich presence of ferns and moss. From this you have access to a lower level where two arms open up in a SW/NE direction. The latter, which is the downstream arm, extends for about twenty meters of great interest as on the compact surface bottom a cascade of pahoehoe lava and a small expanse of rope lava are evident. The upstream arm extends for about 125 meters. The first 50 are quite easy to walk through, up to a narrow passage that seems to interrupt the development. In reality a narrow and challenging passage allows access to the second part of the cavity. Here air blows copiously probably due to the morphology of the section. From this characteristic the name Grotta del Vento.
The cave then reopens for about 50 meters with very particular shapes. Among these a beautiful lava bridge, probably the remains of a double channel on two levels. Nearby there are other interesting cavities including the Grotta dei Tunnell and the Grotta Piero Angela, this one explored by us in the same period.
Dario Teri 27 October 2022 Unseen & Little-Known Etna Caves No Responses
Do you want to visit the caves of Etna?
We organize cave excursions with expert guides. You could also request a guided tour with those who discovered it! See
Speleological tour in volcanic caves.
How are volcanic caves formed?
Lava tubes are very common on Etna. They form during an eruption ...
Go to the article.