The path winds up along the north-east side of Etna and starts from Refuge Citelli.

sartorius mountains map

The route begins at the Refuge Citelli accessible through Mareneve road, coming from Fornazzo or Linguaglossa, both countries at the slopes of Etna, interesting to visit before the hike.

How to get to the Refuge Citelli

From the Messina-Catania (A 18) exit the motorway at Giarre and follow the signs for Macchia, San Giovanni Montebello Sant’Alfio. Here joints (km. 9) follow the signs for Fornazzo and Etna north.
From Fornazzo Mareneve continue on the road until the junction (km. 14.5) for the Refuge Citelli, from here continue for another 3 km and it has come to the shelter.

Sartorius Mountain Path

The path is of great importance, both for its geological value and for its botanic peculiarity.
It goes through glades, rich of endemic species, huge volcanic bombs and wood formations with birches (betula Aetnensis).

The great geological interest of the place is represented by the impressive lava flow of 1865 which gave rise to the Monti Sartorius (to honor the memory of the scholar Sartorius von Waltershausen, one of the first map-maker to record Etna eruptions), characterized by seven volcanic cones in line each other (known as “bottoniera”).
The shill call of the redtail “spazzacamino” and the ever fluttering wheatear bird can be heard in this area.

This path goes along a road which was once a narrow shepherd country lane and ends up in a ring at the departure point: there is a maximum difference in height of 100 m. between the flat ground and two of the seven volcanic cones.
There are some lava stone pillars with engraved numbers on them aimed at signaling the most important points of observation: 1. The glade, 2. The volcanic bombs, 3. Life on the rocks, 4. Wood birches, 5. The 1865 lava flow.