Mount Etna - Sicily
Mount Etna, located in Sicily, is a mountain with attitude, capable of growing and shrinking hundreds of metres in a few days, Etna currently reaches almost 4,000m.
It has been intermittently active for tens of thousands of years and gets a mention in many myths and legends.
The pictures come from the 2001 Summer eruption copyright National Geographical
Sometimes Etna sends up huge plumes of hot gas and dust which reach high into the atmosphere and may stretch hundreds of miles.
Over the last 50 years Etna has become increasingly active but the eruptions happen high up and the lava moves slowly so it is not usually a threat to near by towns and the city of Catania the lights of which can be seen in the top left of the photo.
The Romans considered Etna to be the God Vulcan's forge. The earthquakes were the earth reverberating with the strokes of Vulcan's hammer and when he worked the bellows huge jets of flame reached to the sky.
Odysseus a mythical Greek hero is said to have dodged boulders flung by a giant Cyclops as he passed by.
In the ninth Century, Arabs used the snow that covers the slopes when it was not so active, to make sweet flavoured ices - hard to believe when you see the kind of protective suits you need to get near the top today.