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Volcano Guides at Mount Etna Are Protesting over New Safety Rules

Volcano guides argue new rules limit their professional role despite slow-moving lava and cooling flows, prompting a strike affecting tourist access to Mount Etna.

  • Dozens of guides demonstrated Wednesday in front of Mount Etna's lava flow gate, protesting new restrictions as local authorities suspended excursions, prompting a strike for the first time in decades.
  • Local authorities in the city of Catania imposed new safety measures restricting excursions to dusk, requiring a 200-meter distance from lava and enforcing a 10-person limit with drones after eruptions began on Christmas Eve.
  • Scientists report the most advanced lava front reached 1,360 meters before cooling; Mount Etna, Sicily, rises 3,350 meters and volcanologists say current lava flows pose no danger to residential areas.
  • The dispute has already disrupted planned visits, with Claudia Mancini, 32-year-old tourist, saying her Palermo excursion was cancelled; Sicily's guides expect to continue striking while seeking compromise.
  • Mount Etna's status as Europe's most active volcano sustains regional tourism, drawing hikers and backpackers while its Ionian Sea viewpoints support local livelihoods.
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Dozens of guides who take lava tourists to Mount Etna in Sicily have protested stricter restrictions. Due to new eruptions, excursions are only permitted until sunset. Tourists are also not allowed closer than 200 meters to the lava flow of Europe's highest and most active volcano. Authorities on the Italian island implemented these measures after the 3,350-meter volcano began rumbling on the day before Christmas. Since then, there have been sev…

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By GIUSEPPE DISTEFANO and GIADA ZAMPANO MONTE ETNA, Italy (AP) — The guides that lead tourists to enjoy the breathtaking views of Mount Etna in Sicily are on a war footing due to the stricter restrictions imposed by the local authorities following a series of eruptions in the gigantic volcano in recent weeks. Authorities in the city of Catania have suspended or restricted excursions to see lava flows from the volcano, which has led the guides to…

·United States
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Volcano guides at Mount Etna are protesting over new safety rules

Guides who take tourists to enjoy the striking views of Sicily’s Mount Etna are up in arms over tougher restrictions imposed by local authorities after a round of eruptions at the giant volcano in recent weeks.

·United States
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Following the eruption of January 1st and the resulting restrictions on access to Etna, the Free Association of Professional Environmental-Hiking Guides (LAGAP) Sicily intervened with a formal letter addressed to the Prefect of Catania, the mayors of the affected municipalities, the Regional Department of Civil Protection, the INGV (Institute for Geophysical and Volcanological Analysis), and the Etna Park.

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ilSicilia.it broke the news in on Wednesday, January 7, 2026.
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