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NICOLOSI
15 kms from Catania - 700 a.s.l.

The town is where you will find the offices of the Etna National Park, and it is one of the most popular tourist resorts of the province.
It grew up in 1300 around the Benedictine monastery of Saint Nicholas, which still exists, and which makes an interesting visit, together with the Cathedral, rebuilt in 1700 with a Baroque-style bell tower attributed to Vaccarini, and a sixteenth-century lava stone base.
The town has been frequently damaged in the course of the century by lava from Etna. In 1669 it was almost completely destroyed owing to the eruption which formed the twin craters called the Red Mountains, just north of the Town.
These Red Mountain are now quite an attraction, because they permit the observation of the interior of a volcano. In the town there is also a small vulcanological museum. Nicolosi is above all an excellent departure point for excursion on Etna: from there it is easy to reach the facilities for those who wish to arrive at the top of the volcano from the southern face.