San Andrea Senior School in L-Imselliet recently organised a Geography lesson about volcanoes inside one of the St Sylvester craters on Mount Etna during a field trip to Sicily.
As the students ventured in the crater they could appreciate the majesty and magnitude of the volcano
Mt Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe, standing 3,350 metres tall. It has a long history of eruptions, with the most recent one occurring on January 11 last year.
The students boarded the catamaran to the fishing village of Pozzallo, where they found a coach waiting to take them to Nicolosi, the closest village to Mt Etna.
In April 1669, buildings in the village were destroyed by an earthquake and the fields around it were submerged in fast-flowing lava during the volcano’s largest and most destructive eruption.
The guide explained that due to the fertile volcanic soil, the fields around Nicolosi was ideal for growing chestnuts. During their visit to the village the students were also able to admire the citrus fruits and vines that characterise the beautiful landscape of Sicily.
As the coach drove past Catania, the students could easily spot the massive volcano in a mist of clouds. During the 1669 eruption the main stream of lava in fact reached as far as Catania, travelling at a speed of 50 metres an hour, and destroyed a large area of the town. The lava took eight years to cool down.
The group’s main destination was the St Sylvester craters located 1,500 metres up the volcano. The hill climb took around 30 minutes, during which the students could see the damage wrought by previous eruptions, such as a house completely submerged in lava.
When the group reached its destination it made its way towards one of the craters – a massive hole in the side of the volcano that has not been active for a number of years. As the students ventured in the crater they could appreciate the majesty and magnitude of the volcano. The students were also allowed to pick up pieces of stone lava as a memento from the crater itself besides from the nearby souvenir shops.
Towards the end of the trip the group went for a meal in the baroque city of Modica, which was destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1669. After savouring an authentic Italian pizza the group visited the city centre before starting the journey back to Malta.