Etna DOC Etna DOC Etna is a "Denominazione di origine controllata" (DOC) for wine from the Etna region in Italy. Etna D.O.C. territory is closely tied to the biggest active volcano in Europe - Etna. Much of it is covered with crops and natural vegetation. Among the cultivated species the grape vine has always played a major role. Man appears on the island of Sicily in the Upper Paleolithic (20,000 years B.C.). Evidence exists that ancient grapes are proved to be dated before man ever stepped on the island; however it was only during the Neolithic era when population devoted itself to
Mount Etna In March 1981, the town of Randazzo on the northwestern flank of Etna narrowly escaped destruction by unusually fast-moving lava flows. That eruption was remarkably similar to one in 1928 that destroyed Mascali. The 1991–1993 eruption saw the town of Zafferana threatened by a lava flow, but successful diversion efforts saved the town with the loss of only one building a few hundred metres from the town's margin. Initially, such efforts consisted of the construction of earth barriers built perpendicularly to the flow direction; it was hoped that the eruption would stop before the artificial basins created behind the barriers