In the eyes of those living around Etna, there seems to be a mix of fear and affection for their environment. In northeastern Sicily, Europe's highest and most active volcano has every reason to inspire fear. Since the beginning of 2025, it has already erupted four times – in February, April, May and again at the start of June – spewing columns of dark smoke kilometers high into the Sicilian sky.

In the villages scattered along its slopes, people nurture "an extraordinary love" for the volcano, as Emanuele Occhipinti shows through his "A'Muntagna" project, carried out between 2018 and 2023 and now the subject of a book nearing completion.

"People see Etna as a living entity, like a mother who protects them, whom they gaze upon affectionately. A mother who can also be stern and threatening, but who does not prevent either the young or the old from seeing themselves as her children," said the 46-year-old photographer, himself a native of Sicily.

'The fertility of its land'

Through a house window, one glimpses a frightened girl standing before a stable; the closed face of a farm boy, sitting with the door open at the front of a car, lost in the fog; the watchful eye of a shepherd; in a church, nuns reciting the rosary as if to ward off the elements and seek the Lord's protection. But the photos also capture the lightness of daily life: a card game at the local bar, or portraits radiating serenity.

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