Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two Today these crazy men are planning a surprise for me. But I am not very enthusiastic when we board a four-wheel drive jeep with a man who looks very much like a scientist and drive to the volcano. Etna or Mongibello is a stunning image. She rises up more than ten thousand feet above sea level, towering over the towns located around her flanks, providing fertile land for farming and beautiful hiking and skiing. “It’s our Sicilian Mother,” says Angelo as we drive up the base of Etna and Enzo points to the lava flows visible on the road cuts from a 1690 eruption which destroyed much of the city of Catania, before pouring into the Ionian Sea. “She is bountiful and beautiful, but able to flare up at a moment’s notice.” As we make our way up, the lava gets…hmm…younger, acc
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