Aetnaea

Etna

Aetnaea (2025) 

Ink drawing by Maurizio Puglisi

Translator

 

 Etna or Aetnaea is a woman

In one of the many legends of Etna (or as it was called in ancient times “Aitna”) it is told that Etna was actually the daughter of Uranus and Gea; she kept the giant Enceladus, whom we talked about in the previous story, hidden under her. The tradition that identifies Etna with the feminine sphere is still common. The rich soil of Etna, in fact, is easily associated with the idea of ​​motherhood, abundance and fertility. Furthermore, to the question “Why is Etna female?” many Sicilian men would answer that it is because of its frequent “mood swings”, which manifest themselves in an alternation between periods of calm and sudden eruptions and explosions.