Etna park

This park was founded in 1981 and includes the biggest European active volcano. It has been part of Sicilian landscape for 50,000 years. It started from the bottom of the big gulf, with eruptions whose accumulating materials as time passed originated a mountain of 3323 mt. It has a basic diameter of 40 km an  altitude of 210 km, and occupied the whole gulf area. It’s been known since ancient times like Cyclops forge, Etna has always fascinated all the travellers: desert at a high altitude, it’s covered with a luxuriant vegetation at an average and low altitude, it’s divided in bands:

From coast to 500 mt grow citrus trees;

From 500 mt to 100 mt grow mostly vineyards (it produces a very good wine);

From 1000 mt to 1500 mt grow oak woods, brooms and chestnut woods; in S.Alfio area there is a big pluri centenarian chestnut tree called “of one hundred horses”, it faces time.

On the chestnut wood area grows larch-pine, an autochthonal tree and beyond this area there are beech-wood and the Etnean birch; the last one is very rare at such altitude, like birches of alpine zone.

Over 2500 mt landscape becomes bare, herbaceous plants grow and then nothing else, everything is desert.

Very nice for ones fondness of mountain biking is the high mountain track of about 40 km, starting from Rifugio Sapienza, finishing at the marvellous pine-wood of Linguaglossa.

The track crosses the different geological and botanic areas and there are many unattended refuges always open and in good condition, where you can bivouac free.