This is the day of the final ascent to the central craters. First of all, we have to reach the Rifugio Sapienza. We leave theSan Giovanni Gualberto refuge, passing in front of the Saint altar and than reaching the fork leading to Ariel refuge . Some of us are a bit sick and decide to go right, they'll be carried by car to the cable way
I go left with the rest of the group, to the Monte Nero degli Zappini nature trail. We walk on this path until the end of the trail , then we reach the road leading to Sapienza refuge, the place where we started our path three days ago : we did it! The three days path all around Mount Etna is completed!
We decide to use the cable way to get to 2500 meters altitude, in order to save energy to explore the path between Montagnola and Torre del Filosofo, definitely more interesting than Rifugio Sapienza - Montagnola path. We leave the cable way and start walking on the track used by off-road buses towards Mount Escrivà. We go right before the mount, going to a panoramic point where we can look at both sides of the Bove valley . There are a lot of "volcanic bombs" and I'm surprised to find out that under these big lava stones there are a lot of ladybirds !
We go back towards mount Escrivà, for a quick exploration: there are many geysers , with iron-based and sulphr-based gas emission. From the crater edge we look at the Cisternazza , a big hole filled with water during the snow melting season.
We leave mount Escrivà heading the central crater . We walk on the hairpin turns where off-roads buses drive over leading tourists to Torre del Filosofo, the craters seems to be close to us but it is really far away and we are also walking on the volcanic sand, but the worst is over! We can look at the crater from a short distance, mount Etna has been really active during these days and it would be dangerous to go closer. We have some rest on the small picnic area at Torre del Filosofo before the last path of our adventure.
We start descending heading towards mount Escrivà to walk around it and then rise on the Montagnola . Here begins a steep descending path leading to Silvestri craters and finally to the Sapienza refuge souvenir area .
Now it's really over. We had the chance to observe wonderful places with real nature lovers, in just four days we enjoyed a lot of landscapes, panoramic points, trees, caves, sunrises, sunsets and so on... simply fantastic. I really thank my travel mates, sooner or later I hope we'll have the chance to meet again for another adventure like this.
Difficulty: high
Difference in height: 1920 m
Maximum height: 2950 m
Length: 18 km
Duration of journey: 5 - 8 hours
Suggested season: spring - summer
Technical equipment : required