The eruption of 1928
The eruption of 1928
With the arrival of the Normans in Sicily, the island was liberated from the Arab domination and the vast territory of Mascali, which expanded from the Ionian Sea to the top of the volcano, was donated by King Roger II to Maurizio the bishop of Catania, with the title of baron, in 1124. In 1543 Bishop Nicola Maria Caracciolo was elected Count of Mascali by Emperor Charles V, and he initiated a rapid transformation of the territory.
The County of Mascali became one of the most prosperous economic and social realities of Sicily, thanks also to the export of wine, which from the port of Riposto reached the main European cities. The economic development was accompanied by a dizzying demographic increase and by the birth of new towns (Giarre, Riposto, Milo, Sant’Alfio) that from 1815 will ask for and will obtain autonomy from the ancient mother city, decreeing effectively the end of the County.
The County of Mascali became one of the most prosperous economic and social realities of Sicily, thanks also to the export of wine, which from the port of Riposto reached the main European cities. The economic development was accompanied by a dizzying demographic increase and by the birth of new towns (Giarre, Riposto, Milo, Sant’Alfio) that from 1815 will ask for and will obtain autonomy from the ancient mother city, decreeing effectively the end of the County.
Escher – House in the Lava near Nunziata, Sicily 1936
In 1928 the town of Mascali, which raised in the lower eastern slope of Etna, had about 3,000 inhabitants, dedicated to the cultivation of the countryside and the transformation of citrus fruits into lime citrate and essences in the numerous factories. It had already suffered an almost complete devastation with the earthquake of 1693, which had razed the city to the ground. The main public, religious and civil buildings were built after that earthquake.
90 years ago, between 6 and 7 November of 1928, the town was erased from topographic maps due to a lava flow that submerged it. The eruption of 1928 is the only eruptive event, from the eighteenth century to the present, which caused the destruction of a town of Etna. The city of Mascali has a thousand-year history. The name appears for the first time in an epistle sent in 593 A.D. by Pope Gregory the Great to the Bishop of Taormina, to the monks residing in the monastery of Sant’Andrea located “super Maschalas”.