Striking shot shows Mount Etna framed by Sliema's Fort Tigné

After weeks of monitoring weather and light conditions, photographer Daniel Cilia captured a striking image of snow-covered Mount Etna rising behind Fort Tigné.

Cilia had been waiting for the perfect moment to capture the Sicilian volcano throughout December. That opportunity came on Sunday night, during a flight back to Malta from Italy, when he spotted Etna glowing in the distance.

“I saw Etna from the plane, it was full of snow and calling out to me,” he said.

Thanks to a camera he installed in Gozo pointed at Mount Etna and a group chat with other photographers, he knew the following morning would offer the best conditions.

He woke up at 5am and arrived at 7am at the site in Valletta where he took a photo, though visibility was a concern.

“I was worried it wasn’t clear enough to tell the difference between the clouds and the snow,” he said.

The same sight at around 7am with Etna in the background. Photo: Daniel Cilia

After a meeting in Valletta, at 10.10 am Cilia returned to the same spot where he managed to take the shot. 

The temperature in Malta was 4°C, and below freezing in Sicily, ideal weather conditions for sharp visibility, especially with the wind and humidity working in his favour.

But capturing the perfect photo still required some post-processing due to the 200km distance. Since he is shooting Etna from Malta, there is a build up for the air particles, which are small droplets of water. 

"What you see with your eyes is much clearer than the result of taking a photograph with such a big lens"

He explained that he dehazes the photograph with editing software and he also uses a polarizer which reduces the haze and reduces the reflection.  

"Using the polriser and the dehazing, you can get the image to look how you see it with your own eyes." 

Cilia had been keeping the Fort Tigné vantage point in mind since June last year, when he realised that the alignment with Etna was ideal for such a composition.

However, it was a recent news story that pushed him to take the photo there.

Din l-Art Ħelwa, the heritage NGO, of which Cilia is a founding member of the  Gozo branch, has offered to match the €2.5 million sale price of the Fort’s lease. The sum had been agreed between investment group MIDI and developer Joseph Portelli, who planned to convert the site into a hotel.

“It was in the news recently and I wanted to keep it in people's minds and remind them that there are a lot of positive things that the fort can be used for, which doesn’t include being a hotel,” he said.

His personal connection to the photo is not limited to the Fort. Mount Etna has fascinated him since childhood.

“I’ve always been fascinated with Etna since we visited on a school trip when I was about 11.”

Cilia and his father on a school trip to Sicily where his father, who was a teacher, helped organise with the headmaster. Photo: Daniel Cilia

Since 2017, he has shared several photos showing Malta with Etna in the background, and is now working on a book titled Ġebel in-Nar: The Volcano on Malta’s Horizon.

He said the name came from “the phrase Ġebel Nar Etna, an Arabic term meaning 'Mountain of Fire,' which was a historical name for Mount Etna during the Arab domination of Sicily.”

The book will feature views of Etna taken from locations across Malta and Gozo, and is expected to be published in the near future.