Outdoors · Sicily

Etna Volcanic Hike & Wine

Hike through 2,000-meter Etna's 1000-year-old vineyards between lava caves and crater rims, then taste mineral Etna DOC reds that smell of volcanic stone.

What to do there

AdventureEtna Volcanic Hike & WineThe vine in front of you is 200 years old and has never been grafted — because the phylloxera louse that destroyed every vineyard in France in the 1880s couldn't swim through volcanic sand. Etna erupts 14 times a year, and each lava flow creates entirely different soil: two plots 300 meters apart taste like different grape varieties. A Belgian wine broker named Frank Cornelissen drove here in 1997 after one sip, bought land, and the locals called him "Il Belga Pazzo" — the Crazy Belgian. Walk his terraces, ride a cable car to 2,900m of active crater, then taste two wines from neighboring lava flows and feel the geological difference in the glass.

Wineries and wine bars nearby

Winery Passopisciaro Andrea Franchetti's 2000 restoration of a 1000-meter farm on Etna's slopes sparked Mount Etna's Nerello Mascalese renaissance, with six contrada bottlings from distinct lava terroirs.
Winery Benanti Since 1734 on Mount Etna's slopes, the Benanti family produces only native Sicilian grapes.
Wine bar · Castiglione di Sicilia Passopisciaro (Vini Franchetti) - Contrada Pioneer Andrea Franchetti restored a 1000-meter farm on Etna's slopes in 2000, pioneering Mount Etna's volcanic Nerello Mascalese renaissance by bottling six distinct contradas from different lava flows.