In 1992 Etna's lava came within a few hundred metres of the houses, and everything was tried to stop it: concrete blocks lowered by helicopter into the channel of the flow, explosives, earth barriers. It was the largest operation ever attempted against a lava flow; the town was saved.
The name comes from saffron, which used to be grown here: in a painting of 1838 the Madonna della Provvidenza has a vase of its flowers beside her. The town grew around the Benedictine priory of San Giacomo, documented from 1387, and became a comune on 21 September 1826, splitting from Trecastagni, Viagrande and Aci Sant'Antonio. It stands at 580 metres, between the woods and the lava desert. There are 9,249 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma
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Next up: Mary Most Holy of Providence, the patroness who stopped the lava of 1792, Sunday 8 August
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 24 km away
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📅 Every year, on the second Sunday of August
Zafferana Etnea celebrates Mary Most Holy of Providence on the second Sunday of August; according to tradition, her intercession stopped the lava of Etna's 1792 eruption, and ever since the community has renewed its vow every year with a pilgrimage.
Saffron rice, ragù with peas and caciocavallo inside a golden cone-shaped crust: in Catania it is masculine and pointed, and the quarrel with Palermo over the name is serious.
Read more →Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Zafferana Etnea, but an easy day trip away.
