The 20 most extreme places to visit
Click through to find out some of the most extreme places on Earth for the jaded traveler to visit. And no, we're not talking about snowboarding or sky-diving. Click to find out more.
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Various Places of Interest
10 Best New UNESCO World Heritage Sites for 2015
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/news/10 ... md#image=1
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/news/10 ... md#image=1
Hazrat Ali's Mausoleum in Najaf, Iraq
Hazrat Ali's Mausoleum in Najaf, Iraq.
MUST WATCH
The panoramic views of Moula
Ali's Roza. Simply amazing. Press the
different buttons on the top left corner as well as the arrows to see different functions and
views.
http://www.imamali.net/vtour/
Hazrat Ali's Mausoleum in Najaf, Iraq.
MUST WATCH
The panoramic views of Moula
Ali's Roza. Simply amazing. Press the
different buttons on the top left corner as well as the arrows to see different functions and
views.
http://www.imamali.net/vtour/
Beautiful Brazil
Filled with numerous beaches, breathtaking landscapes and pristine rainforests, Brazil is one of the most enchanting places to travel in South America. As the country gears up to host the 2016 Olympic Games, we take a look at Brazil’s cultural diversity and its exotic natural beauty.
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/news/be ... md#image=1
Filled with numerous beaches, breathtaking landscapes and pristine rainforests, Brazil is one of the most enchanting places to travel in South America. As the country gears up to host the 2016 Olympic Games, we take a look at Brazil’s cultural diversity and its exotic natural beauty.
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/news/be ... md#image=1
49 natural wonders to see before you die
Slide Show
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/tripide ... md#image=1
Slide Show
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/tripide ... md#image=1
Far out: The remotest places on Earth
From dense rainforests to archipelagos in the middle of nowhere, our planet is full of places that don’t feature on regular tourists trails. Click through to take a look at some of the remotest locations in the world.
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/adventu ... md#image=1
From dense rainforests to archipelagos in the middle of nowhere, our planet is full of places that don’t feature on regular tourists trails. Click through to take a look at some of the remotest locations in the world.
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/adventu ... md#image=1
The 10 Most Beautiful Places in the World You Didn't Know Existed
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/tripide ... lsignoutmd
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/tripide ... lsignoutmd
Janet's collection of black and white photographs recalling memories of the three week voyage from London to Mombasa via Suez in the RHODESIA CASTLE and her stay in Kenya which included safaris to Uganda and around Lake Victoria by Lake Steamer
http://mccrow.org.uk/EastAfrica/JanetDa ... rce=Direct
http://mccrow.org.uk/EastAfrica/JanetDa ... rce=Direct
Aleppo (Syria) Vacation Travel Video Guide
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT0nVNgA6e0
Travel video about destination Aleppo in Syria.
Sturdy walls and gates protect the ancient historic city of Aleppo in Syria.The narrow lanes in the old town, and its many historic buildings, have retained all the character and charm of a mediaeval metropolis. The city has a flourishing economy which is mainly due to its favourable location at the junction of several important trading routes. In 1169 the Umayyade Mosque was re-built at the command of the Zengid monarch, Nureddin, but only its impressive forty five metre high minaret has survived to the present day. The Baits are true architectural gems of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, noble and often palatial-looking buildings that once belonged to the city’s elite classes. Today Aleppo shines out once again in the glory of its six thousand years of history and continues to highlight its unique significance as one of the most important cities in the Orient.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT0nVNgA6e0
Travel video about destination Aleppo in Syria.
Sturdy walls and gates protect the ancient historic city of Aleppo in Syria.The narrow lanes in the old town, and its many historic buildings, have retained all the character and charm of a mediaeval metropolis. The city has a flourishing economy which is mainly due to its favourable location at the junction of several important trading routes. In 1169 the Umayyade Mosque was re-built at the command of the Zengid monarch, Nureddin, but only its impressive forty five metre high minaret has survived to the present day. The Baits are true architectural gems of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, noble and often palatial-looking buildings that once belonged to the city’s elite classes. Today Aleppo shines out once again in the glory of its six thousand years of history and continues to highlight its unique significance as one of the most important cities in the Orient.
What is it like to travel in PAKISTAN?
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mIzRYh ... rce=Direct
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mIzRYh ... rce=Direct
Old Istanbul & The Bosphorus in 4K (Ultra HD)
Istanbul served as imperial capital for the Roman and Byzantine (330–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin (1204–1261), and the Ottoman (1453–1922) empires (Wikipedia). With its strategic location on the Bosphorus peninsula between the Balkans and Anatolia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Istanbul has been associated with major political, religious and artistic events for more than 2,000 years (UNESCO).
In this video: Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) (0:05), Hippodrome (1:26), Gulhane Park (1:38), Aya Sophia (Hagia Sofia) (2:13), Kalendarhane Mosque (4:02), Column of Constantine (4:07), Süleymaniye Mosque (4:23), New Mosque (5:21), Topkapi Palace (5:57), The Bosphorus (7:20), Grand Bazaar (Kapalı Çarşı) (9:40), sunset view from Galata Bridge (10:17).
Recorded April 2015 in 4K (Ultra HD) with Sony AX100. Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CC.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t-VoZa ... rce=Direct
Istanbul served as imperial capital for the Roman and Byzantine (330–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin (1204–1261), and the Ottoman (1453–1922) empires (Wikipedia). With its strategic location on the Bosphorus peninsula between the Balkans and Anatolia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Istanbul has been associated with major political, religious and artistic events for more than 2,000 years (UNESCO).
In this video: Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) (0:05), Hippodrome (1:26), Gulhane Park (1:38), Aya Sophia (Hagia Sofia) (2:13), Kalendarhane Mosque (4:02), Column of Constantine (4:07), Süleymaniye Mosque (4:23), New Mosque (5:21), Topkapi Palace (5:57), The Bosphorus (7:20), Grand Bazaar (Kapalı Çarşı) (9:40), sunset view from Galata Bridge (10:17).
Recorded April 2015 in 4K (Ultra HD) with Sony AX100. Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CC.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t-VoZa ... rce=Direct
Meet the Only City in the World That Straddles Two Continents
The unique geography
Though Istanbul is considered one city, part of it sits on the continent of Europe, neighboring Greece and Bulgaria; the other part sits on the continent of Asia, neighboring Syria, Iran, and Iraq beyond Turkey’s borders. Between them runs the Bosphorus Strait, a narrow body of water that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea via the Sea of Marmara. The result is a cultural and ethnic melting pot, a cosmopolitan city with Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and modern Turkish structures—a skyline of domes and minarets in mosques, churches, and synagogues, palaces, castles, and towers. It is a history buff’s dream and one of Reader’s Digest’s top bucket list vacations
Slide show at:
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/tra ... ailsignout
The unique geography
Though Istanbul is considered one city, part of it sits on the continent of Europe, neighboring Greece and Bulgaria; the other part sits on the continent of Asia, neighboring Syria, Iran, and Iraq beyond Turkey’s borders. Between them runs the Bosphorus Strait, a narrow body of water that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea via the Sea of Marmara. The result is a cultural and ethnic melting pot, a cosmopolitan city with Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and modern Turkish structures—a skyline of domes and minarets in mosques, churches, and synagogues, palaces, castles, and towers. It is a history buff’s dream and one of Reader’s Digest’s top bucket list vacations
Slide show at:
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/tra ... ailsignout
Alhambra - Granada, Andalusia, Spain in HD
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zHkAowMKrU
Alhambra - The magical Moorish palace/citadel/garden complex in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. Recorded May 2012 in HD with Panasonic TM900.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zHkAowMKrU
Alhambra - The magical Moorish palace/citadel/garden complex in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. Recorded May 2012 in HD with Panasonic TM900.
One Jamat Nationwide - Nampula (Mozambique)
Background, history and photos at;
https://the.ismaili/mozambique/mozambiq ... de-nampula
Background, history and photos at;
https://the.ismaili/mozambique/mozambiq ... de-nampula
Re: Various Places of Interest
Into the Sands of Time: Exploring Egypt’s White and Black Deserts
Led by a guide and driver, a photojournalist embarked on a three-day, two-night excursion that took her deep into one of the country’s lesser-known wonders.
The Valley of Agabat in Egypt’s Western Desert
Photo Essay by Claire Thomas
Sept. 10, 2025
“In the desert, there’s a solution for everything,” our guide, Ahmed, told us. “Except the wind,” he added with a wry smile, zipping up his light jacket.
As the sun dipped below the horizon on our second night camping in Egypt’s surreal White Desert, the stillness shattered. A sandstorm had swept in without warning, devouring the landscape in a wall of dust and grit. Sand whipped around the towering limestone formations — already otherworldly by day — and morphed them into ghostly silhouettes, their shapes shifting like mirages in the swirling haze.
One formation, resembling a giant bird of prey, seemed to flicker and pulse in the storm. Another, with a regal, timeworn profile, bore an uncanny resemblance to the Great Sphinx. It was impossible not to wonder: Could these strange limestone sentinels have inspired ancient Egyptians to carve some of their most iconic monuments?
Image
A sandstorm whips across the surreal limestone formations in Egypt’s White Desert.
I’ve always been drawn to deserts — their vastness, their defiance, their silence. Now, based in Cairo, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to spend a few days off-grid in the White Desert. With an Egyptian guide and driver, my husband and I had embarked on a three-day, two-night excursion that took us deep into one of Egypt’s lesser-known wonders.
Through the swirling chaos, I glimpsed the faint outline of a figure in the distance, ghostlike in the storm. We thought our eyes were playing tricks on us as the wind intensified and the figure vanished. Only later did we learn that a woman from another camp had become disoriented when the swirling sands obliterated all sense of direction. Fortunately, she hadn’t wandered far and was soon found. In the desert, even experienced travelers can quickly lose their bearings.
We hastily extinguished our fire and scrambled for shelter, huddling inside a wall tent lit by a single flickering bulb powered by a car battery. Sand pelted the canvas like driving rain and crept through every seam and zipper. When I woke later that night, the storm had passed. The stillness was so absolute it was almost unnerving — but I couldn’t get out. The tent zipper had been fused shut by the sand, and we had to break it open to step outside.
Image
Formations silhouetted during the sandstorm.Credit...
The scene that greeted me under the moonlight was ethereal. A dense layer of fine sand blanketed everything: the tent, our sleeping bags, our clothes, even our hair. I stood alone under a star-filled sky, feeling as though I had woken up on another planet.
In the silence, I spotted a flicker of movement: a small fennec (desert fox) scuttling past. It paused just long enough to meet my gaze, its amber eyes catching the moonlight, before vanishing into the dunes.
Image
Sculpted limestone rippling across the sand in Egypt’s White Desert.
Image
Outcrops loom like natural sculptures above the sand.
Image
The formations were carved over thousands of years by winds and shifting dunes.
Image
The desert is about five hours from Cairo by car.Credit...
About 230 miles southwest of Cairo, the White Desert, or Sahara el Beyda, is accessible via the Bahariya Oasis. The journey takes around five hours by road — long enough to feel the gradual shedding of urban life — followed by a few more hours bumping off-road across open desert in search of the perfect spot to set up camp. Most travelers, like us, opt for a guided expedition in sturdy Land Cruisers, outfitted with modern navigation gear and packed with supplies essential for surviving the desert’s extremes.
The desert’s real magic, though, reveals itself slowly. Egypt’s White and Black Deserts are studies in contrast. The White Desert, protected as a national park in 2002, is dominated by chalky limestone formations sculpted over thousands of years by wind erosion. Some resemble giant mushrooms; others look like camels, sphinxes, ravens or fantastical creatures from another world.
Image
Glowing orange sands against black volcanic peaks in Egypt’s Black Desert.
Image
A basalt-capped hill looms over the desert, its dark flank a reminder of the ancient eruptions that transformed ochre sands into a Martian-like terrain.
A short drive away lies the Black Desert, the next stop on our trip, where ochre sand gives way to black-topped volcanic hills. These dark peaks are the remnants of ancient eruptions that spewed basalt over the surrounding sands, creating a stark, brooding landscape that feels distinctly Martian.
We climbed one of the larger hills and stood on the summit, watching the light shift across the silent and vast desert floor — a view that made the world beyond seem impossibly far away.
Image
A massive rock at Crystal Mountain, near the Black Desert, is shaped uncannily like a jellyfish.
Image
Crystal Mountain glitters with quartz and calcite.
From there, we paused at Crystal Mountain, an outcrop of quartz and calcite crystals fused together in dazzling structures. One massive rock, shaped eerily like a jellyfish, seemed almost too fantastical to be real.
Image
Valley of Agabat, a dramatic landscape tucked within Egypt’s Western Desert.
Image
Wind-carved rock formations in the Valley of Agabat.
But perhaps the most extraordinary spot we visited was the Valley of Agabat, or Wadi al-Agabat, a hidden labyrinth of towering rock formations and moonlike terrain near the White Desert and the Bahariya Oasis, accessible only with seasoned guides.
Famous for its surreal stone sculptures and golden sands, this remote valley likely played a quiet but important role in ancient trade networks.
During the Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, and later Islamic periods, caravan routes — often called “Darb” routes — crisscrossed the vast deserts, linking the Nile Valley to distant oases and beyond, even reaching toward Libya. Wadi al-Agabat would have served as a natural corridor between the Bahariya and Farafra oases, offering relatively easier passage through the rugged desert landscape, with identifiable landmarks in an otherwise featureless expanse.
Image
Inside the Moon Cave, where narrow shafts of light illuminate mineral-veined walls.
At its heart, the Moon Cave reveals quiet marvels: Slender beams of light filter through natural crevices, illuminating mineral-veined walls that glimmer in the half-darkness. Touching the cool, shimmering rock felt like reaching out to connect with the Earth’s own secret history.
What was even more astonishing, however, was the cave’s acoustics. The curvature of the rock, its height and its dense material amplified a single clap into a resounding cacophony that echoed far across the surrounding desert — a natural phenomenon that, in an emergency, could serve as a lifesaving signal.
Despite the occasional discomforts — a sleeping bag full of sand, the endless fine dust coating everything — I found myself savoring every gritty, wild moment. Out there, stripped of modern distractions, it felt like life’s basic elements — air, earth, fire, water (or the desperate lack of it) — asserted themselves with thrilling clarity.
Just a day’s drive from the bustle of Cairo, the White and Black Deserts offer more than an escape; they offer perspective, serenity, clarity and adventure. Between the thunder of the wind, the shimmer of stars on a sea of dunes, and the profound silence that follows, the desert becomes not just a place, but a state of mind. A reset. A return.
Image
The sun sets behind a limestone formation in Egypt’s White Desert.
Claire Thomas is a British photographer and photojournalist. Her latest book, “Altai,” features her work on the hunters and herders of Mongolia. You can follow her on Instagram.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/trav ... e9677ea768
Led by a guide and driver, a photojournalist embarked on a three-day, two-night excursion that took her deep into one of the country’s lesser-known wonders.
The Valley of Agabat in Egypt’s Western Desert
Photo Essay by Claire Thomas
Sept. 10, 2025
“In the desert, there’s a solution for everything,” our guide, Ahmed, told us. “Except the wind,” he added with a wry smile, zipping up his light jacket.
As the sun dipped below the horizon on our second night camping in Egypt’s surreal White Desert, the stillness shattered. A sandstorm had swept in without warning, devouring the landscape in a wall of dust and grit. Sand whipped around the towering limestone formations — already otherworldly by day — and morphed them into ghostly silhouettes, their shapes shifting like mirages in the swirling haze.
One formation, resembling a giant bird of prey, seemed to flicker and pulse in the storm. Another, with a regal, timeworn profile, bore an uncanny resemblance to the Great Sphinx. It was impossible not to wonder: Could these strange limestone sentinels have inspired ancient Egyptians to carve some of their most iconic monuments?
Image
A sandstorm whips across the surreal limestone formations in Egypt’s White Desert.
I’ve always been drawn to deserts — their vastness, their defiance, their silence. Now, based in Cairo, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to spend a few days off-grid in the White Desert. With an Egyptian guide and driver, my husband and I had embarked on a three-day, two-night excursion that took us deep into one of Egypt’s lesser-known wonders.
Through the swirling chaos, I glimpsed the faint outline of a figure in the distance, ghostlike in the storm. We thought our eyes were playing tricks on us as the wind intensified and the figure vanished. Only later did we learn that a woman from another camp had become disoriented when the swirling sands obliterated all sense of direction. Fortunately, she hadn’t wandered far and was soon found. In the desert, even experienced travelers can quickly lose their bearings.
We hastily extinguished our fire and scrambled for shelter, huddling inside a wall tent lit by a single flickering bulb powered by a car battery. Sand pelted the canvas like driving rain and crept through every seam and zipper. When I woke later that night, the storm had passed. The stillness was so absolute it was almost unnerving — but I couldn’t get out. The tent zipper had been fused shut by the sand, and we had to break it open to step outside.
Image
Formations silhouetted during the sandstorm.Credit...
The scene that greeted me under the moonlight was ethereal. A dense layer of fine sand blanketed everything: the tent, our sleeping bags, our clothes, even our hair. I stood alone under a star-filled sky, feeling as though I had woken up on another planet.
In the silence, I spotted a flicker of movement: a small fennec (desert fox) scuttling past. It paused just long enough to meet my gaze, its amber eyes catching the moonlight, before vanishing into the dunes.
Image
Sculpted limestone rippling across the sand in Egypt’s White Desert.
Image
Outcrops loom like natural sculptures above the sand.
Image
The formations were carved over thousands of years by winds and shifting dunes.
Image
The desert is about five hours from Cairo by car.Credit...
About 230 miles southwest of Cairo, the White Desert, or Sahara el Beyda, is accessible via the Bahariya Oasis. The journey takes around five hours by road — long enough to feel the gradual shedding of urban life — followed by a few more hours bumping off-road across open desert in search of the perfect spot to set up camp. Most travelers, like us, opt for a guided expedition in sturdy Land Cruisers, outfitted with modern navigation gear and packed with supplies essential for surviving the desert’s extremes.
The desert’s real magic, though, reveals itself slowly. Egypt’s White and Black Deserts are studies in contrast. The White Desert, protected as a national park in 2002, is dominated by chalky limestone formations sculpted over thousands of years by wind erosion. Some resemble giant mushrooms; others look like camels, sphinxes, ravens or fantastical creatures from another world.
Image
Glowing orange sands against black volcanic peaks in Egypt’s Black Desert.
Image
A basalt-capped hill looms over the desert, its dark flank a reminder of the ancient eruptions that transformed ochre sands into a Martian-like terrain.
A short drive away lies the Black Desert, the next stop on our trip, where ochre sand gives way to black-topped volcanic hills. These dark peaks are the remnants of ancient eruptions that spewed basalt over the surrounding sands, creating a stark, brooding landscape that feels distinctly Martian.
We climbed one of the larger hills and stood on the summit, watching the light shift across the silent and vast desert floor — a view that made the world beyond seem impossibly far away.
Image
A massive rock at Crystal Mountain, near the Black Desert, is shaped uncannily like a jellyfish.
Image
Crystal Mountain glitters with quartz and calcite.
From there, we paused at Crystal Mountain, an outcrop of quartz and calcite crystals fused together in dazzling structures. One massive rock, shaped eerily like a jellyfish, seemed almost too fantastical to be real.
Image
Valley of Agabat, a dramatic landscape tucked within Egypt’s Western Desert.
Image
Wind-carved rock formations in the Valley of Agabat.
But perhaps the most extraordinary spot we visited was the Valley of Agabat, or Wadi al-Agabat, a hidden labyrinth of towering rock formations and moonlike terrain near the White Desert and the Bahariya Oasis, accessible only with seasoned guides.
Famous for its surreal stone sculptures and golden sands, this remote valley likely played a quiet but important role in ancient trade networks.
During the Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, and later Islamic periods, caravan routes — often called “Darb” routes — crisscrossed the vast deserts, linking the Nile Valley to distant oases and beyond, even reaching toward Libya. Wadi al-Agabat would have served as a natural corridor between the Bahariya and Farafra oases, offering relatively easier passage through the rugged desert landscape, with identifiable landmarks in an otherwise featureless expanse.
Image
Inside the Moon Cave, where narrow shafts of light illuminate mineral-veined walls.
At its heart, the Moon Cave reveals quiet marvels: Slender beams of light filter through natural crevices, illuminating mineral-veined walls that glimmer in the half-darkness. Touching the cool, shimmering rock felt like reaching out to connect with the Earth’s own secret history.
What was even more astonishing, however, was the cave’s acoustics. The curvature of the rock, its height and its dense material amplified a single clap into a resounding cacophony that echoed far across the surrounding desert — a natural phenomenon that, in an emergency, could serve as a lifesaving signal.
Despite the occasional discomforts — a sleeping bag full of sand, the endless fine dust coating everything — I found myself savoring every gritty, wild moment. Out there, stripped of modern distractions, it felt like life’s basic elements — air, earth, fire, water (or the desperate lack of it) — asserted themselves with thrilling clarity.
Just a day’s drive from the bustle of Cairo, the White and Black Deserts offer more than an escape; they offer perspective, serenity, clarity and adventure. Between the thunder of the wind, the shimmer of stars on a sea of dunes, and the profound silence that follows, the desert becomes not just a place, but a state of mind. A reset. A return.
Image
The sun sets behind a limestone formation in Egypt’s White Desert.
Claire Thomas is a British photographer and photojournalist. Her latest book, “Altai,” features her work on the hunters and herders of Mongolia. You can follow her on Instagram.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/trav ... e9677ea768
Re: Various Places of Interest
On the Slopes of Mount Etna, Where Lava and Wine Flow
The fiery Sicilian volcano is a magnet not only for hikers, but for wine and food lovers. Vineyards thrive on the rich soil, alongside restaurants, bars and farm-stays.
Not only are Mount Etna’s eruptions spectacular, but, over the centuries, they’ve produced and enriched the pyroclastic soil that the region’s wine grapes thrive on.Credit...Salvatore Allegra/Associated Press
Laura Rysman
By Laura Rysman
Sept. 10, 2025
Just before dawn, Mount Etna exploded, a chute of fire hurling molten lava toward the night’s dimming stars, then cascading down as black basalt sand and shards of glassy ash. Residents on Etna’s lower slopes woke to a blanket of silt over their fields and streets.
A few hours later, I was trekking up the volcano — though at a safe distance from the fire-breathing summit — as vapor spewed from the crater.
Etna’s eruptions — including a June blast that collapsed a crater — are perennial but rarely perilous, though caution, gear and a guide are fundamental. They’ve transformed this fiery mountain on Sicily’s east coast into a magnet not only for adventurous hikers, but for wine lovers. Vineyards thrive on the rich pyroclastic soil, alongside restaurants, bars and farm-stays rooted in winemaking culture.
The area I visited lies just above Taormina, but has dodged the resort town’s mass tourism, unleashed by cruise ships and “The White Lotus.” A new Delta flight from New York to Catania, the first direct route from the United States, is poised to boost arrivals.
My own four-day trip was packed with excursions to wineries, trattorias, black-stone mountain towns and the volcano itself. The itinerary works in any season, particularly the temperate autumn months when harvest is underway. (Check with vineyards before visiting in this busy period.)
A Place Unlike Any Other
ImagePuffy, low-lying clouds drift across a volcanic landscape that transitions from thinly vegetated black basalt sand to thick forests.
Hikers on Mount Etna can observe how quickly the landscape transitions from basalt sand fields to lush forest nourished by the ashes of the volcano.Credit...Pontus Berghe
For Sicily’s ancient Greeks, Etna was the mythical forge of Hephaestus. Much of its landscape bears little resemblance to anyplace else on Earth. Only “pioneer” plants — black pine saplings, Scotch broom, mosses and lichens — pierce the hardened terrain that has been paved by waves of lava; in stretches spared from lava for a few centuries, there are dense forests. “The circle of life,” said Roberto Reina, a guide with Etna Unlimited (hikes from 75 euros, or about $87), who accompanied me on my morning hike.
Later, down the mountainside, I settled in for lunch at Cave Ox (mains from €12), the roadside restaurant opened in 2011 that rendered the owner, Sandro Dibella, a pillar of the wine world, with a cellar of over 1,000 labels. The vintners’ hangout, known as “Da Sandro,” was inspired by Mr. Dibella’s friendship with Frank Cornelissen, the Belgian winemaker who helped revive Etna’s forgotten potential two decades ago.
Image
A white rimmed plate on a wooden table holds spaghetti with greens, two glasses of wine -- one red, the other white -- and two wine bottles.
At Cave Ox, spaghetti with wild greens grown on Mount Etna is served with wine tastings from two local producers, Vino di Anna and Masseria del Pino.Credit...Pontus Berghe
My table was loaded with wild mushrooms, a farmer’s soup, wood-fired bread and pistachio-crusted pasta. As I dined, Mr. Dibella suggested wineries, all producers of natural wine, which relies on chemical-free farming and additive-free winemaking (apart from, at most, minimal sulfites).
A Future in the Fields
Image
A centuries-old town is a jumble of small buildings with red tiled roofs surrounded by mountains covered in greenery.
Towns on Mount Etna’s slopes, like Castiglione di Sicilia, above, are surrounded by vast swathes of greenery, including fields of grapevines and olive groves.Credit...Pontus Berghe
Etna’s wine territory follows the northeastern crescent of the volcano, where centuries-old towns like Milo, Linguaglossa, Randazzo and Castiglione di Sicilia are outposts clustered between swathes of grapevines and olive groves, with the Nebrodi mountains and the Mediterranean beyond.
The following day, in Milo, renowned for its sea-inflected Etna Bianco wines, the basalt sand crunched underfoot as Salvo Foti led me through his vineyards, which also teemed with herbs and fruit trees. Mr. Foti has written several books on Etna and wine, and is one of the few vintners still making wine with a palmento, an ancient Greek contraption for crushing and fermenting grapes. Once central to Etna’s viticulture, the palmento was largely sidelined in 1997 in favor of easy-to-sterilize modern equipment. Mr. Foti never gave it up and remains the steward of this 2,000-year-old method — and he’s fighting to see it reinstated.
In 1994, there were 14 registered vineyards on Etna; today there are 474. “Wine has put Etna back on the map,” said Mr. Foti, whose father emigrated to Switzerland for lack of work. “Everyone took me for a lunatic when I started, but now my children work here — and they don’t have to emigrate.” (Tastings start at €25.)
Image
A vineyard with stone terraces rises on a gentle slope on a foggy day.
In Etna vineyards that specialize in natural wine, like this one outside the town of Linguaglossa, wildflowers and grasses thrive between the rows of grapevines.Credit...Pontus Berghe
At the nearby Tre.Mi.La vineyard (tastings from €35; with lunch from €50), I visited another vintner, Gloria Di Paola. “It’s not easy to stay in Sicily,” she said, pouring me her prize-winning Emigrante red. “You have to create something for yourself.”
Ms. Di Paola returned after a stint in Paris, converting her family’s bulk wine vineyard to small-batch, high-caliber production. In Sicily, which remains one of Italy’s least developed regions, previous generations abandoned agriculture for urban jobs; today, small-production winemaking has become a rare foothold for young people.
That unseasonably cool evening, when I arrived at 4 Archi, a waiter placed a copper bucket of burning embers by my feet. The 30-year-old osteria, cheerful and jam-packed with memorabilia, has a menu that spotlights specialties at risk of disappearing, like a local cabbage known as trunzu.
“Dining is full of political possibilities,” said the proprietor, Rosario Grasso. “Restaurants can act as stewards of endangered plants and animals, sustaining culinary traditions, small producers and biodiversity.”
I dug into the deep-fried glory of an arancino stuffed with trunzu, while Mr. Grasso’s daughter, Sara, who oversees the cellar, filled my glass.
A short drive north brought me to my lodging at Etnella, a vineyard with pumice cottages (Etnella Notti Stellate, from €100; tastings from €40) set high on Etna’s seaside slope. The next morning, I gazed down at birds flying over the glimmering Mediterranean.
The owner, Davide Bentivegna, showed me around grapevine plots scattered across the volcano. “To understand wine, you have to experience the land it comes from,” he said, inspecting a bud, Etna’s smoke-wreathed summit looming above.
“Etna is an ally,” Mr. Bentivegna said. “You can make extraordinary wines here working with the earth, not working against it with chemicals.”
Ashes to Aperitivo
Image
From a window framed by dark curtains that have been pulled back is a view of an old church, red-tiled houses, trees and a hilly landscape.
The view from a hotel room at the Palazzo Previtera in Linguaglossa.Credit...Pontus Berghe
The following day, I headed to Linguaglossa — a small, cinematic town of early Baroque churches and black basalt houses with frilly pale-stone window trimmings. Records trace the outpost to at least 1145. Today, it’s the liveliest of Etna’s wine towns.
Linguaglossa has its quiet museums — one ethnographic, another honoring local artists Francesco Messina and Salvatore Incorpora — but the town has been energized by SARP, the Sicily Artist in Residency Program, with artists on extended stays creating works at a hazelnut-storehouse-turned-studio, and a new contemporary gallery.
Image
A large, high-ceiling room with wooden rafters and rough stucco walls is mostly empty except for a work table where two sculptures, possibly unfinished, are placed, surrounded by various artist tools.
A former hazelnut storehouse has been converted into a work studio for the artists in Palazzo Previtera’s residency program.Credit...Pontus Berghe
The residency was established by Palazzo Previtera — a colorfully frescoed family home dating to 1649, now welcoming guests as a whimsical hotel filled with gilt-framed paintings, cast-iron bed frames and other heirlooms, and a pool in its rose-arbored garden (rooms from €150).
Image
A room in a centuries-old palazzo has pale green walls, a painting of a woman and child in a gold frame that is propped on a wooden credenza, parquet floors, a candelabra and other antique items.
Palazzo Previtera is a private aristocratic residence now partially converted into a whimsical hotel, with antique-filled spaces like this anteroom to the house’s chapel.Credit...Pontus Berghe
In July, Palazzo Previtera opened an ambitious restaurant and natural wine bar. Elsewhere in Linguaglossa, low-key establishments like the Dai Pennisi butchery and Trattoria Linguagrossa keep well-stocked cantinas. Even the Pino Azzurro bakery, open since 1951, hosts aperitivos with Etna’s wines (from €5 a glass) — a convivial hangout for chatting up locals and sampling small-production varieties.
Image
A man stands beneath a single window in the corner of a narrow room of a very old building with rough walls and high ceilings. Beside him is a table full of candles in white holders. The room is lit by two bare bulbs dangling from the ceiling, as well as the sunlight coming through the window.
At Tenuta di Fessina, a farm-stay near Castiglione di Sicilia, Jacopo Maniaci oversees the vineyards as well as hospitality in the converted farmhouse rooms.Credit...Pontus Berghe
From Linguaglossa, I continued to Tenuta di Fessina, a farm-stay near Castiglione di Sicilia, with romantic, antique-furnished rooms in its refurbished 18th-century main villa, converted barn and bakery outbuilding (from €200 wine tastings; with lunch from €45). My room was tucked above the winery’s original palmento, and faced a sweep of flatland grapevines backed by mountains. Years ago at Fessina, downslope from Etna’s craters, I watched lava burst through the night like fireworks.
‘Drawn Into the Past’
Image
A very narrow cobblestone street runs between low, old, stucco buildings, some with balconies and iron street lamps attached to them. In the distance, a mountain rises.
The town of Randazzo is famed for its medieval arches in black lava stone.Credit...Pontus Berghe
My last destination was Randazzo, another enchanting volcanic-stone town, with medieval arch-lined streets and a 13th-century turret housing an archaeological museum.
“In Sicily, you’re drawn into the past,” said Salvatore Giardina, who runs Vitis, a rustic restaurant with outdoor tables by Randazzo’s arches, an extensive wine list and local ingredients like wild asparagus and artisan sausages from wild-grazing livestock (mains from €18).
Image
A centuries-old stone building has arched doorways and is situated on a stone street. Painted pots with plants are on either side of the entranceway, above which hangs a sign: "Vitis."
At Vitis, a rustic restaurant in Randazzo, the emphasis is on ingredients like locally made sausages and wild asparagus, and, of course, wine.Credit...Pontus Berghe
For dessert, I headed to Santo Musumeci, renowned for its granitas in imaginative flavors (from €1.50). Granita originated on Etna in the ninth century, when Sicily’s ruling Arabs introduced citrus and sugar cane to the island, and mixed them with the volcano’s snow.
Image
Three desserts -- a creamy ice-cream-like dessert, an orange sorbet-like frozen dessert and a bun -- sit on the counter of a restaurant, in front of a mirrored shelf loaded with glasses and bottles of alcohol.
A selection of desserts at Santo Musumeci in Randazzo, including one of its granitas, which are among the most renowned in Sicily.Credit...Pontus Berghe
Randazzo is also home to another of Etna’s great clubhouse bars. At Il Buongustaio, the owner, Pippo Calà, has manned the counter for almost 40 years. “This is a place to unwind, to connect, to bring people together,” he said with a tender smile and a glass of Etna Bianco for me. “We don’t want to become a bunch of robots, right?” Cheers to that, Pippo.
Image
A hotel pool with two black lounge chairs on one end, overlooks a rural landscape and volcanic fields beyond.
Dimora Cottanera, outside Randazzo, overlooks vineyards and volcanic fields.Credit...Pontus Berghe
A driver he knew ferried me to Dimora Cottanera outside town, a sleek retreat with vineyard-facing windows, a pool and spa (from €175).
The next day, I returned to Randazzo for lunch at San Giorgio e il Drago — a family affair with volcano-grown ingredients and a cantina packed with small-production wines (mains from €10). The matriarch chef — Paola Mannino, 93 — was back, reigning over the kitchen just two days after cataract surgery.
I had also heard that the Circumetnea train, which circumnavigates Etna along a breathtaking route, was running from the Randazzo station. The line, inaugurated in 1898 to carry Etna’s wines to the port, also has a station at Tenuta di Fessina’s doorstep, but no one had seen a train there for months, and accurate information was nowhere to be found. Etna, though flourishing with wineries and hospitality initiatives, “has been abandoned by the state,” Jacopo Maniaci, who directs Fessina, had told me. (Indeed, pockets of Etna’s landscape are marred with trash. Cows graze on public lands to exploit European Union subsidies. Volunteer brigades assist overstretched firefighters combating blazes.)
But as it turned out, though the Circumetnea was indefinitely under construction along the eastern side of the line, it was indeed running west from Randazzo to Paternò, and I was happy to go anywhere it would take me. (tickets €6.50; biglietteriactborgo@circumetnea.it; +39-095-541250).
Image
A view from the window of a train shows a rocky, volcanic field.
The view from the Circumetnea train, which when it is fully in service, circumnavigates Mount Etna.Credit...Pontus Berghe
At the station, only a few locals and one Japanese tour group boarded alongside me. The narrow-track train wound an arc around Etna, as the windows filled with vineyards, oak forests, pistachio trees, citrus groves, lava rock expanses and that fire-breathing cone.
It was a land of sublime beauty and cataclysmic renewal, of state neglect, and an unyielding community closer than most of us to the instability of Earth.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/trav ... -food.html
The fiery Sicilian volcano is a magnet not only for hikers, but for wine and food lovers. Vineyards thrive on the rich soil, alongside restaurants, bars and farm-stays.
Not only are Mount Etna’s eruptions spectacular, but, over the centuries, they’ve produced and enriched the pyroclastic soil that the region’s wine grapes thrive on.Credit...Salvatore Allegra/Associated Press
Laura Rysman
By Laura Rysman
Sept. 10, 2025
Just before dawn, Mount Etna exploded, a chute of fire hurling molten lava toward the night’s dimming stars, then cascading down as black basalt sand and shards of glassy ash. Residents on Etna’s lower slopes woke to a blanket of silt over their fields and streets.
A few hours later, I was trekking up the volcano — though at a safe distance from the fire-breathing summit — as vapor spewed from the crater.
Etna’s eruptions — including a June blast that collapsed a crater — are perennial but rarely perilous, though caution, gear and a guide are fundamental. They’ve transformed this fiery mountain on Sicily’s east coast into a magnet not only for adventurous hikers, but for wine lovers. Vineyards thrive on the rich pyroclastic soil, alongside restaurants, bars and farm-stays rooted in winemaking culture.
The area I visited lies just above Taormina, but has dodged the resort town’s mass tourism, unleashed by cruise ships and “The White Lotus.” A new Delta flight from New York to Catania, the first direct route from the United States, is poised to boost arrivals.
My own four-day trip was packed with excursions to wineries, trattorias, black-stone mountain towns and the volcano itself. The itinerary works in any season, particularly the temperate autumn months when harvest is underway. (Check with vineyards before visiting in this busy period.)
A Place Unlike Any Other
ImagePuffy, low-lying clouds drift across a volcanic landscape that transitions from thinly vegetated black basalt sand to thick forests.
Hikers on Mount Etna can observe how quickly the landscape transitions from basalt sand fields to lush forest nourished by the ashes of the volcano.Credit...Pontus Berghe
For Sicily’s ancient Greeks, Etna was the mythical forge of Hephaestus. Much of its landscape bears little resemblance to anyplace else on Earth. Only “pioneer” plants — black pine saplings, Scotch broom, mosses and lichens — pierce the hardened terrain that has been paved by waves of lava; in stretches spared from lava for a few centuries, there are dense forests. “The circle of life,” said Roberto Reina, a guide with Etna Unlimited (hikes from 75 euros, or about $87), who accompanied me on my morning hike.
Later, down the mountainside, I settled in for lunch at Cave Ox (mains from €12), the roadside restaurant opened in 2011 that rendered the owner, Sandro Dibella, a pillar of the wine world, with a cellar of over 1,000 labels. The vintners’ hangout, known as “Da Sandro,” was inspired by Mr. Dibella’s friendship with Frank Cornelissen, the Belgian winemaker who helped revive Etna’s forgotten potential two decades ago.
Image
A white rimmed plate on a wooden table holds spaghetti with greens, two glasses of wine -- one red, the other white -- and two wine bottles.
At Cave Ox, spaghetti with wild greens grown on Mount Etna is served with wine tastings from two local producers, Vino di Anna and Masseria del Pino.Credit...Pontus Berghe
My table was loaded with wild mushrooms, a farmer’s soup, wood-fired bread and pistachio-crusted pasta. As I dined, Mr. Dibella suggested wineries, all producers of natural wine, which relies on chemical-free farming and additive-free winemaking (apart from, at most, minimal sulfites).
A Future in the Fields
Image
A centuries-old town is a jumble of small buildings with red tiled roofs surrounded by mountains covered in greenery.
Towns on Mount Etna’s slopes, like Castiglione di Sicilia, above, are surrounded by vast swathes of greenery, including fields of grapevines and olive groves.Credit...Pontus Berghe
Etna’s wine territory follows the northeastern crescent of the volcano, where centuries-old towns like Milo, Linguaglossa, Randazzo and Castiglione di Sicilia are outposts clustered between swathes of grapevines and olive groves, with the Nebrodi mountains and the Mediterranean beyond.
The following day, in Milo, renowned for its sea-inflected Etna Bianco wines, the basalt sand crunched underfoot as Salvo Foti led me through his vineyards, which also teemed with herbs and fruit trees. Mr. Foti has written several books on Etna and wine, and is one of the few vintners still making wine with a palmento, an ancient Greek contraption for crushing and fermenting grapes. Once central to Etna’s viticulture, the palmento was largely sidelined in 1997 in favor of easy-to-sterilize modern equipment. Mr. Foti never gave it up and remains the steward of this 2,000-year-old method — and he’s fighting to see it reinstated.
In 1994, there were 14 registered vineyards on Etna; today there are 474. “Wine has put Etna back on the map,” said Mr. Foti, whose father emigrated to Switzerland for lack of work. “Everyone took me for a lunatic when I started, but now my children work here — and they don’t have to emigrate.” (Tastings start at €25.)
Image
A vineyard with stone terraces rises on a gentle slope on a foggy day.
In Etna vineyards that specialize in natural wine, like this one outside the town of Linguaglossa, wildflowers and grasses thrive between the rows of grapevines.Credit...Pontus Berghe
At the nearby Tre.Mi.La vineyard (tastings from €35; with lunch from €50), I visited another vintner, Gloria Di Paola. “It’s not easy to stay in Sicily,” she said, pouring me her prize-winning Emigrante red. “You have to create something for yourself.”
Ms. Di Paola returned after a stint in Paris, converting her family’s bulk wine vineyard to small-batch, high-caliber production. In Sicily, which remains one of Italy’s least developed regions, previous generations abandoned agriculture for urban jobs; today, small-production winemaking has become a rare foothold for young people.
That unseasonably cool evening, when I arrived at 4 Archi, a waiter placed a copper bucket of burning embers by my feet. The 30-year-old osteria, cheerful and jam-packed with memorabilia, has a menu that spotlights specialties at risk of disappearing, like a local cabbage known as trunzu.
“Dining is full of political possibilities,” said the proprietor, Rosario Grasso. “Restaurants can act as stewards of endangered plants and animals, sustaining culinary traditions, small producers and biodiversity.”
I dug into the deep-fried glory of an arancino stuffed with trunzu, while Mr. Grasso’s daughter, Sara, who oversees the cellar, filled my glass.
A short drive north brought me to my lodging at Etnella, a vineyard with pumice cottages (Etnella Notti Stellate, from €100; tastings from €40) set high on Etna’s seaside slope. The next morning, I gazed down at birds flying over the glimmering Mediterranean.
The owner, Davide Bentivegna, showed me around grapevine plots scattered across the volcano. “To understand wine, you have to experience the land it comes from,” he said, inspecting a bud, Etna’s smoke-wreathed summit looming above.
“Etna is an ally,” Mr. Bentivegna said. “You can make extraordinary wines here working with the earth, not working against it with chemicals.”
Ashes to Aperitivo
Image
From a window framed by dark curtains that have been pulled back is a view of an old church, red-tiled houses, trees and a hilly landscape.
The view from a hotel room at the Palazzo Previtera in Linguaglossa.Credit...Pontus Berghe
The following day, I headed to Linguaglossa — a small, cinematic town of early Baroque churches and black basalt houses with frilly pale-stone window trimmings. Records trace the outpost to at least 1145. Today, it’s the liveliest of Etna’s wine towns.
Linguaglossa has its quiet museums — one ethnographic, another honoring local artists Francesco Messina and Salvatore Incorpora — but the town has been energized by SARP, the Sicily Artist in Residency Program, with artists on extended stays creating works at a hazelnut-storehouse-turned-studio, and a new contemporary gallery.
Image
A large, high-ceiling room with wooden rafters and rough stucco walls is mostly empty except for a work table where two sculptures, possibly unfinished, are placed, surrounded by various artist tools.
A former hazelnut storehouse has been converted into a work studio for the artists in Palazzo Previtera’s residency program.Credit...Pontus Berghe
The residency was established by Palazzo Previtera — a colorfully frescoed family home dating to 1649, now welcoming guests as a whimsical hotel filled with gilt-framed paintings, cast-iron bed frames and other heirlooms, and a pool in its rose-arbored garden (rooms from €150).
Image
A room in a centuries-old palazzo has pale green walls, a painting of a woman and child in a gold frame that is propped on a wooden credenza, parquet floors, a candelabra and other antique items.
Palazzo Previtera is a private aristocratic residence now partially converted into a whimsical hotel, with antique-filled spaces like this anteroom to the house’s chapel.Credit...Pontus Berghe
In July, Palazzo Previtera opened an ambitious restaurant and natural wine bar. Elsewhere in Linguaglossa, low-key establishments like the Dai Pennisi butchery and Trattoria Linguagrossa keep well-stocked cantinas. Even the Pino Azzurro bakery, open since 1951, hosts aperitivos with Etna’s wines (from €5 a glass) — a convivial hangout for chatting up locals and sampling small-production varieties.
Image
A man stands beneath a single window in the corner of a narrow room of a very old building with rough walls and high ceilings. Beside him is a table full of candles in white holders. The room is lit by two bare bulbs dangling from the ceiling, as well as the sunlight coming through the window.
At Tenuta di Fessina, a farm-stay near Castiglione di Sicilia, Jacopo Maniaci oversees the vineyards as well as hospitality in the converted farmhouse rooms.Credit...Pontus Berghe
From Linguaglossa, I continued to Tenuta di Fessina, a farm-stay near Castiglione di Sicilia, with romantic, antique-furnished rooms in its refurbished 18th-century main villa, converted barn and bakery outbuilding (from €200 wine tastings; with lunch from €45). My room was tucked above the winery’s original palmento, and faced a sweep of flatland grapevines backed by mountains. Years ago at Fessina, downslope from Etna’s craters, I watched lava burst through the night like fireworks.
‘Drawn Into the Past’
Image
A very narrow cobblestone street runs between low, old, stucco buildings, some with balconies and iron street lamps attached to them. In the distance, a mountain rises.
The town of Randazzo is famed for its medieval arches in black lava stone.Credit...Pontus Berghe
My last destination was Randazzo, another enchanting volcanic-stone town, with medieval arch-lined streets and a 13th-century turret housing an archaeological museum.
“In Sicily, you’re drawn into the past,” said Salvatore Giardina, who runs Vitis, a rustic restaurant with outdoor tables by Randazzo’s arches, an extensive wine list and local ingredients like wild asparagus and artisan sausages from wild-grazing livestock (mains from €18).
Image
A centuries-old stone building has arched doorways and is situated on a stone street. Painted pots with plants are on either side of the entranceway, above which hangs a sign: "Vitis."
At Vitis, a rustic restaurant in Randazzo, the emphasis is on ingredients like locally made sausages and wild asparagus, and, of course, wine.Credit...Pontus Berghe
For dessert, I headed to Santo Musumeci, renowned for its granitas in imaginative flavors (from €1.50). Granita originated on Etna in the ninth century, when Sicily’s ruling Arabs introduced citrus and sugar cane to the island, and mixed them with the volcano’s snow.
Image
Three desserts -- a creamy ice-cream-like dessert, an orange sorbet-like frozen dessert and a bun -- sit on the counter of a restaurant, in front of a mirrored shelf loaded with glasses and bottles of alcohol.
A selection of desserts at Santo Musumeci in Randazzo, including one of its granitas, which are among the most renowned in Sicily.Credit...Pontus Berghe
Randazzo is also home to another of Etna’s great clubhouse bars. At Il Buongustaio, the owner, Pippo Calà, has manned the counter for almost 40 years. “This is a place to unwind, to connect, to bring people together,” he said with a tender smile and a glass of Etna Bianco for me. “We don’t want to become a bunch of robots, right?” Cheers to that, Pippo.
Image
A hotel pool with two black lounge chairs on one end, overlooks a rural landscape and volcanic fields beyond.
Dimora Cottanera, outside Randazzo, overlooks vineyards and volcanic fields.Credit...Pontus Berghe
A driver he knew ferried me to Dimora Cottanera outside town, a sleek retreat with vineyard-facing windows, a pool and spa (from €175).
The next day, I returned to Randazzo for lunch at San Giorgio e il Drago — a family affair with volcano-grown ingredients and a cantina packed with small-production wines (mains from €10). The matriarch chef — Paola Mannino, 93 — was back, reigning over the kitchen just two days after cataract surgery.
I had also heard that the Circumetnea train, which circumnavigates Etna along a breathtaking route, was running from the Randazzo station. The line, inaugurated in 1898 to carry Etna’s wines to the port, also has a station at Tenuta di Fessina’s doorstep, but no one had seen a train there for months, and accurate information was nowhere to be found. Etna, though flourishing with wineries and hospitality initiatives, “has been abandoned by the state,” Jacopo Maniaci, who directs Fessina, had told me. (Indeed, pockets of Etna’s landscape are marred with trash. Cows graze on public lands to exploit European Union subsidies. Volunteer brigades assist overstretched firefighters combating blazes.)
But as it turned out, though the Circumetnea was indefinitely under construction along the eastern side of the line, it was indeed running west from Randazzo to Paternò, and I was happy to go anywhere it would take me. (tickets €6.50; biglietteriactborgo@circumetnea.it; +39-095-541250).
Image
A view from the window of a train shows a rocky, volcanic field.
The view from the Circumetnea train, which when it is fully in service, circumnavigates Mount Etna.Credit...Pontus Berghe
At the station, only a few locals and one Japanese tour group boarded alongside me. The narrow-track train wound an arc around Etna, as the windows filled with vineyards, oak forests, pistachio trees, citrus groves, lava rock expanses and that fire-breathing cone.
It was a land of sublime beauty and cataclysmic renewal, of state neglect, and an unyielding community closer than most of us to the instability of Earth.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/trav ... -food.html