Corsaro Etna Hotel - Mount Etna, Sicily - Rebuilt upon the 1983 Lava

The Corsaro Etna Hotel stands amid the dark lava landscape at 2,000 metres on Mount Etna, with the snow-covered volcanic slopes rising dramatically behind it.

The Corsaro Etna Hotel stands directly on the lava produced by Mount Etna's destructive 1983 eruption, surrounded by dark volcanic terrain beneath the snow-covered upper slopes of the volcano. The present building replaced the original Corsaro restaurant and hotel complex, which was destroyed when lava swept through the Etna Sud tourist area during the eruption. The eruption began on 28 March 1983, when fissures opened on Etna's southern flank and lava descended toward the tourist facilities around Rifugio Sapienza. On 1 April, lava reached the Corsaro restaurant, and during the following days the original structure was torn from its foundations and ultimately engulfed. Reconstruction began in 1985 on the new lava field, with the hotel eventually completed during the 1990s. Situated at approximately 2,000 metres above sea level near Nicolosi, the Corsaro Etna Hotel provides a striking example of how life and tourism have returned to a landscape repeatedly transformed by one of Europe's most active volcanoes.