As almost always happens, this eruption occurred at lower elevation compared to the summit craters area; it originated from a fissure preceded by other upstream fractures called “non-eruptive”
because no magma is emitted from them.
Since the eruption was not particularly violent and therefore not so dangerous to make a visit unsafe, we seized the opportunity to come close to magma and observe some charming phenomena
such as “red-hot windows” created by the so called “ingrottamento” phenomenon.

We went on many excursions and each time the scenario was different: during our first visit, the lava was flowing underground, whereas during the last one the lava flow was on surface, giving us
the chance to expose our films (exposure time between 1/8’ and 30”) to white-hot streams of steam and magma.

As one can perfectly understand, we had good reasons for being troubled about our equipment
because of the intense heat which at about 10-15 m from the fissure reached a peak of 50-60 degrees. It became therefore necessary to protect both camera and lens wrapping them in cloths.

Foto: R.Cosentino