On March 11, 356 years ago

the most important lateral eruption in Etna's recent history began-a near watershed event in the cultural history of the Etna region, with so many of the towns on the volcano's southern slope being severely damaged or destroyed.

The eruption of 1669 was preceded, as is almost always the case during lateral eruptions, by an intense seismic sequence that struck the southern slope of the volcano from early February and peaked on the night of March 10-11, a few hours before the eruption began. At 4:30 p.m. on the same day, as many as five eruptive fractures suddenly opened between 950 and 700 meters above sea level on the same slope.

The most important and active was the one located on the outskirts of Nicolosi, where both intense explosive and sustained effusive activity was underway. It was there that as the eruption continued, a large cone of slag formed that we can still admire today: the Red Mountains.

During the 1669 eruption, more than 600 million cubic meters of lava were erupted, 66 of which was pyroclastic material alone (ash, lapilli and slag) that fell over a large area of the region. The lava field gradually expanded until it covered an area of 40 km², allowing Etna to form its longest lava flow in 15,000 years: more than 17 km! The eruption caused the destruction of numerous towns, including Belpasso, Mompilieri, San Pietro Clarenza, Camporotondo Etneo, San Giovanni Galermo, and Misterbianco.

With the formation of some ingrottamenti, during April one of the flows slowly reached the western walls of the city of Catania. In a desperate attempt to save the city, the population managed to partially divert the flow toward the coast, where it went on to bury some Roman structures such as the Circus Maximus and the Naumachia.

The lava then poured into the sea, forming a delta about 1.5 km long and expanding the coastline by more than 800 meters. Eventually the eruption ended on July 11, after four long months of intense activity.

Written by Il Mondo dei Terremoti on Facebook

It is strange to think...

that when I left Sal's home, when he lived in Upper Nicolosi - that the very beginning of those lava flows - started next to his home. Once they rushed down - destroying the village of Nicolosi (and many other villages), all the way down to Catania City, and into the sea... Threatening to destroy the entire city - if it wouldn't been for some miracle work they've been doing, to lead the lava away.

I would see the remnants of those lava flows, just meters from the street.

Basically when looking out of the window.

It is almost surreal to think...

that I've been there so many times, during the three years Sal lived there, afoot of the Monti Rossi complex. The double hills which got created out of that eruption in 1669 - stood only 150 meter away.

I also went once to the Castello which separated the vast, very high and thick lava stream in Catania. I think it was Giuseppe who showed it to me at my very first visit in Catania, even before I met Sal for the first time, back in Oct 2014. You can see the Castello in the painting all the way to the left; that bigger structure right at the border of the vast lava stream which threatened to roll over the entire city. But it stopped right there, at the walls of the castle.

Today you can walk there, like a narrow ravine between the lava stream and the castle walls. And you realized how tiny you were in comparison to both !

Kind of strange

to think of it; that I really got to experience it with my own eyes. I could only dream of such things as a child in Berlin. (And never thought I would one day see any of those places). Or even living there at times, when vising Sal in Upper Nicolosi at the slopes of Monti Rossi, and further away, seeing (one time) Etna volcano erupting, right from the balcony.

To me... it is magic.

Having dreamed about such places, things and events. Later actually experiencing them. And it is still magic today when I walk into those memories, thinking abut them today.

It appears to be my ability to feel a lot of magic inside my being, and feel connected to all that what surrounds me, and my eyes experience. People. Places. Sights. Interactions. And sometimes the unspoken things, that connects people, yet are not outspoken - yet hover in the air. As if telling it's own stories, often more true than the words coming out of a mount. It is said, the spirit tells the true stoy - but you have to listen, and sensibility enough, to understand it (without influence of ego, which twists a story into something else).

What is happening among people today ?

Often I encounter, perhaps even trivial things or situations, where most people just pass by without seeing, without looking or being able to take things in (it seems). It often made me feel very lonely in life. It also creates situations, where I wanted to make people SEE. (take part, share, inspire others).

But ultimately though the latter decades, it seems to me that more and more people barely take notice of anything anymore. Going into one ear, and out on the other in less than a second. Everything becomes trivialized, dull and anti-magic.

Almost nothing moves people anymore !

I feel that it is... and i can't help it - highly unhealthy as it is utmost strange phenomena. I mean, symptoms of total indifference I consider to be a warning signal of that something fundamentally has gone wrong among people. I don't think I am making that up. I have heard similar stories with some people I have spoken to - leading into this subject: People have changed a lot lately.

It is - to be honest, quite scary.

It is also very confusing, making me wonder what purpose I have in life is - today, I mean. Because honestly - I don't know how to handle it; what to do with it. How to encounter and react to it. Or just letting is pass. At the same time, i see that, sense that on daily basis - and it makes me feel like a stranger. As if i have landed in a different book, film or planet.

How is this even possible ?

Since 2020

I have certainly become far more reclusive and don't really share so much of impressions with other people. Feeling sometimes that it is a waste of time and energy, resulting into a sense of disappointment. (That's for me to bear, i don't blame others for that). It doesn't have to lead to disappointment - so that is the reaction of my inner child, and not anyone else's responsibility.

But outside of that aspect - it is still strange. Everything that is happening since 2020.

From the inside when I meet or just observe other people - it feels like... encountering closed doors. Like a psychic wall or something. Where rooms used to be open and friendly minded - as a normal human being - i often only sense a vast ocean of indifference. As if something has gotten got detached. Lost.

Unlimited Egos on pedestals

On top of that, I am not sure if i always react in a polite way. I sometimes feel I've gotten more irritated. Or at least that is how i feel inside, even if i don't take it out on people. Ultimately that is a sign of confusion and insecurity in myself, I would say. That I don't know, what to do with that so many people have become so changed, so indifferent, shallow and dull. That people also gotten hyper sensitive to any kind of microscopic differences - and will attack (or loath you with scorn in their voices) by making strange down-looking comments. Wisdom, and insight are absent - while the common Egos are setting themselves on sky-high pedestals. Their cowardliness on the other hand, seems unlimited. Not to mention the vast ocean of ignorance, is exhausting.

Boy, what a 'feat'.

Clearly a WTF moment, observing/ hearing the BS from others.

Makes me think of Bush Jr, who once said in 2001 "you are either with us, or against us". End of the story. That type of style. Nothing goes in between.

I don't say it, because I feel "elevated" looking down on other people. I say it more in the sense of that I feel lost at times - and don't know what to do...

So, that magic of life and the many nuances in between when watched with keen senses; the inherent experience of listening with open ears, wide eyes and a glowing heart - feels kind of lost on most people today. Or is consumed for their brief ego pleasure, and then spit out into a vacuum; No bridges built. No connection maintained. No vibes, what so ever.

It makes no difference anymore to share things with other people. As if energy is swallowed into a black hole of indifference.

Not even giving off a fart.

As a child

I was endlessly fascinated by those large volcanoes and their stories, like Etna, Vesuvius, Stromboli and the Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) near Pozzuoli, west of Napoli. And I've been to them all, even lived there for brief moments during vacations and visits. In the mainstream media you barely got any info on volcanic eruptions in the world - those small little notes were rare.

I felt so hungry for more information about volcanoes.

People in Pozzuoli

and surroundings are extremely unsettled over the entire situation at the Campi Flegrei. The ground movements have created many damages on the houses and structures. The harbor is now dry due to the uplifts.

Gosh already back in 1982, when the orphanage group from Berlin (Wadzeck-Stifting Group 5) made vacation at Lago di Trasimeno lake in upper middle Italy - one part of the group separated and drove down to Rome, Terracina, and then finally Napoli and Pozzuoli, going up onto the Vesuvius Volcano. And we camped inside the Solfatara volcano for several days. The grounds there when you approach the mud volcano area and the yellow sulfur fumaroles - is a weird experience; like walking on thick layer of Chalk, giving off that hollow feeling. And then there is the sulfurous smell of rotten eggs everywhere.

That is very same area, which is now closed off, due to the extremely unsettled situation at the Phlegraean Fields - which ground have lifted around 140 cm, and the ground lift is accelerating. Then thousands of earthquakes and swarms have been happening in the past years. Those seem to get stronger, more numerous as well getting closer to the surface. Now they are often located around 3 km depth only !

The people are extremely unsettled over the entire situation at the Campi Flegrei. The ground movements have created many damages on the houses and structures. The harbor is now dry due to the uplifts.

I see the images in front of my eyes, from all the many visits to the Campi Flegrei...

Mount Batok & Bromo, Indonesia

I also remember from a book i bought as a teenager, that strange mountain in Indonesia (Island of Java), which was standing next to the Bromo volcano... it had these strange, deep ravines. It was taken in a deep orange, red glow, without anything to compare with in terms of size. I never really could get a grip over how large or small that volcano was. How deep or shallow those ravines on all sides were. It was such an abstract volcano photo, I remember.

Until one day...

after I won the first Prize in a photo competition in a Swedish Photo magazine - with tickets to Indonesia - visiting Bromo volcano.

BAM !!

Seeing not only the smoking Bromo volcano at which we stood on that slim but very steep crater rim - but also seeing the nearby standing Mount Batok - with its strange deep ravines.... in July 2010 !

Who would have thought, I got to see that with my own eyes one day. It wasn't exactly planned that "I will go there". But somehow an inner passion, a sort of dream and motivation, seem to have put pieces of puzzles together, making me to visit all those places later in life.

Often though "coincidences", which I had not planned in such pronounced ways. All of the volcano images from childhood in a book... images that puzzled me the most as a young teen, by looking countless times at them... marveling and wondering...

Suddenly came true later in life.

Most of the time in my life

You have to understand, that most of my life i went though with the feeling of being "lost", somehow bobbing around on an ocean, not really knowing nor fully determined of goals in life. Which always been a strange aspect of my being, life and living. Albeit i can be extremely determined for shorter periods - or even out of the sudden... But that has never been a steady state of my mind really.

However, it seems that the most honest, dearest and true dreams kind of generated energies which gradually lead up to that i found myself in places, I've always wondered about, dreamed about during childhood. Perhaps not typical places... I mean volcanoes isn't exactly something people plan to go to deliberately during their vacations.

Also; i didn't traveled at all until the age of 40 (2006).