The Silvestri Craters

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting from OCTOBER 2025, a 5 euro entrance ticket is required to access the Silvestri Craters.

Visiting the Silvestri Craters on Mount Etna is a bit like going to Rome and watch from outside the coliseum: you can take some nice pictures for free and then tell your friends you've been on the highest active volcano in Europe, although they are just two quiet old craters at 2000 meters above sea level, really far from the peak (3350 meters high)

The two craters are located at the tourist bus parking area, very close to the Rifugio Sapienza (Mount Etna south tourist area, find more info in the transport page). So, they are one of the few things you can reach on Mount Etna even using public transport and are a bit crowded

Let's start from the southern crater, walking on its edge and enjoying the panorama in all directions: south, east and nord. Some tourists inside the craters show us its real size. Just cross the road to start the short rise to the northern crater. From here we can see the Montagnola (north direction) and the south crater below us, with a lot of tourists walking on it. Let's take a quick look inside the north crater and then we can go back to the parking area.

The path is very easy (just one km walking and 50 meters difference in height), but we encourage you to pay attention anyway: the sandy soil, the snow, the wind and the crowd could cause unexpected incidents even in such an easy path like this.