Etna Lava Tubes Project was born with the aim of spreading knowledge of little-known or unpublished Etna caves.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 Below we report a census of little-known caves - for which information is not available elsewhere - or unpublished discovered by our team in particular by the founders of EtnaExcursion.it Dario & Paolo Teri.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: Easily accessible and visitable with just lights and helmet.
Taken over by Dario and Paolo Teri (on 23.3.2021)
Notified to the relevant municipality on \\
Spiderman Cave is actually made up of several cavities. In fact, from a single lava flow, 3 galleries developed, each with its own peculiarities. The main and most extensive channel, looking downstream, is the one on the right. The first part of the tunnel begins further upstream from the largest entrance and is a modest gallery of about 20 meters, with no major peculiarities to report. From here, you regain the light and walk about fifteen meters to access the largest entrance from which you immediately enter a rather large room. Here, large rolls and streaks of lava flow are already evident, generated by the viscoelastic movement of the molten rock. After about 30 meters and past an opening in the vault due to a collapse, the cave branches into two arms, one lower on the right and the other to the left from where a room at human height but very large opens up. In this environment, numerous blisters (lava bubbles) intact and above all exploded, which have left holes of heterogeneous size. Here several chiroptera (bats) have been noted. From this room, which returns in the direction of the entrance of the channel forming a horseshoe, there is a hole that gives access to the point described above where there is the large collapse in the vault and where a Spiderman balloon was found that flew to some child in the Etna villages. This, together with the presence of several spiders of considerable size, has led to the attribution of the name being considered appropriate, in addition to the fact that the 3 galleries together form a real spider web! The second gallery opens a short distance away, further to the left. Here the presence of a large roll of lava predominates, due to the phenomenon of folding on itself of the still semi-plastic lava sheath after the passage and lowering of the fluid due to the emptying of the channel from some ephemeral vent further downstream. The third gallery on the left is apparently the least stable due to several collapses on the vault. After about 15 meters a collapse of the vault, allowed the growth of a chestnut tree on the floor of the cavity. This has an exit from another point from which it is possible to reach about 20 meters the access to another cave full of charm: the cave of Blister. A little further downstream, the Cave of the Cunicoli. The presence of this group of caves, generated by the lava of 1792/3, makes the site very interesting from a naturalistic point of view.
Dario Teri 23 March 2021 Unseen & Little-Known Etna Caves No Responses
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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