Mount Etna is a reliable girl, as far as volcanoes go. Her last dramatic eruption happened less than six months ago, but at her 11,000-foot summit, activity is nearly continuous, with frequent eruptions from her flanks, where mantle magma spews hot. Etna, named for the Greek goddess of volcanoes, is the most active volcano in the Appenine-Maghrebian chain, where the African tectonic plate subducts beneath the European plate, a messy collision. Etna gets a boost from a microplate in the Ionian Sea.

While Mamma Etna steams and gurgles, watching over Sicily’s coastal communities like Catania, Sicily, an old man watches over Catania’s harbor from the wharf.

In the town square a statue of an elephant protects her paesanos from Etna’s moods.

We tiptoed past Corleone Street into the historic heart of the city. Bought a bag and named her Cecily.

By afternoon Etna was shrouded in steamy clouds.