A very violent eruption, which lasted more than nine months, commenced on the 21st of August, 1852.  It was first witnessed by a party of English tourists, who were ascending the mountain from Nicolosi in order to see the sunrise from the summit.  As they approached the Casa Inglesi the crater commenced to give forth ashes and flames of fire.  In a narrow defile they were met by a violent hurricane, which overthrew both the mules and their riders, and urged them toward the precipices of the Val del Bove.  They sheltered themselves beneath some masses of lava, when suddenly an earthquake shook the mountain, and their mules in terror fled away.  As day approached they returned on foot to Nicolosi, fortunately without having sustained injury.  In the course of the night many bocche del fuoco (small lava vents) opened in that part of the Val del Bove called the Bazo di Trifoglietto, a great fissure opened at the base of the Giannicola Grande, and a crater was thrown up from which for seventeen days showers of sand and scoriae were ejected.

EFFECT OF THE ERUPTION

During the next day a quantity of lava flowed down the Val del Bove, branching off so that one stream advanced to the foot of Monte Finocchio, and the other to Monte Calanna.  Afterwards it flowed towards Zaffarana, and devastated a large tract of wooded region.  Four days later a second crater was formed near the first, from which lava was emitted, together with sand and scoriae, which caused cones to arise around the craters.  The lava moved but slowly, and towards the end of August it came to a stand, only a quarter of a mile from Zaffarana.

On the second of September, Gemellaro ascended Monte Finocchio in the Val del Bove in order to witness the outburst.  He states that the hill was violently agitated, like a ship at sea.  The surface of the Val del Bove appeared like a molten lake; scoriae were thrown up from the craters to a great height, and loud explosions were heard at frequent intervals.  The eruption continued to increase in violence.  On October 6 two new mouths opened in the Val del Bove, emitting lava which flowed towards the valley of Calanna, and fell over the Salto della Giumenta, a precipice nearly 200 feet deep.  The noise which it produced was like that of a clash of metallic masses.  The eruption continued with abated violence during the early months of 1853, and it did not finally cease till May 27.  The entire mass of lava ejected is estimated to have been equal to an area six miles long by two miles broad, with an average depth of about twelve feet.

This eruption was one of the grandest of all the known eruptions of Etna.  During its outflow more than 2,000,000,000 cubic feet of molten lava was spread out over a space of three square miles.  There have been several eruptions since its date, but none of marked prominence, though the mountain is rarely quiescent for any lengthened period.