At the Foot of the Volcano: Piano Provenzana Wakes Up Covered in Snow

Piano Provenzana, the ski resort located on the northern slope of Mount Etna, went from having no snow to being completely overwhelmed in a matter of hours. The accumulation was so significant that staff were forced to unearth machinery and infrastructure before they could begin preparations for operating the lifts.

On the northern slope of Mount Etna, technicians and resort workers are diligently working these days to recondition the facilities after an exceptional snowfall. The event was anticipated last weekend when storm Harry deposited a volume of snow in just a few hours equivalent to much of what typically accumulates throughout an entire season.

As of now, the exact depth reached at the highest elevations has not been determined, though the initial images released show accumulations of enormous magnitude, to the point of completely covering small buildings and service huts.

For now, the resort has announced that the slopes will remain closed this weekend. This is compounded by the forecast of another snowfall event, less intense than the previous one, but which will further increase the already high snow depths, necessitating extreme efforts in preparation and safety.

The ski resort of Piano Provenzana, managed by the company Star Etna Nord, gained significant notoriety last season when an eruption of Mount Etna coincided perfectly with the winter period. That situation allowed for the capture of striking nighttime images of skiers descending with lava illuminating the surroundings.

This year, the volcano has erupted again, although this time the ski season had not yet started. However, in a context marked by disinformation, various media outlets re-used those images from the previous winter to erroneously claim that skiing was again taking place alongside Etna's lava, despite them not corresponding to the current situation.