Il Monte Etna
The Highest and Most Active Volcano in Europe
Worksheet
The Day When I Climbed Mount Etna
The most exciting day of my life, by Claudia.
Above: una foresta dell' Etna.
Soon, we saw a road sign. It said: 'Sabbia Vulcanica.' This means: 'Volcanic Sand.'
Now we knew that we were definitely going in the right direction!
The forest on Etna was gradually turning into a strange mixture of dead and living trees.
We arrived at a little area of buildings. This area is called un rifugio. It is the highest point that you can reach by car. If you want to go higher up il vulcano then you have to walk or go in a special bus.
We bought tickets to take l'autobus.
No one was allowed to wear sandals. We had to hire walking boots and buy socks. We hired jackets too. When you are climbing a mountain it is cold and windy, even during the hot summer in Sicilia.
Dressed like mountain climbers, we headed towards the bus. This was no ordinary bus! It was a cross between a tractor and a tank. Un autobus speciale.
It was a bumpy, half-hour ride up the rocky, winding track. The roof of a destroyed building lay on the black ground. Dead trees were everywhere. There was no colour and no life. It seemed that we had landed on a dead planet.
Ice patches lay here and there, even though it was August.
Photo: a patch of ghiaccio - ice,
in agosto on an upper slope of Etna.