Etna DOC affects the maturation of the grapes and therefore there is a significant difference between the harvest period of the Etna and the rest of the Sicily areas. The soil is volcanic and very rich in minerals. It is formed by the disintegration of one or several types of lava of different ages and eruptive materials such as lava, ash and sand. Containing all these particles, the crops cultivated on Etna soil benefit from nutrients like iron, copper, phosphorus, magnesium and others. Etna DOC Etna is a "Denominazione di origine controllata" (DOC) for wine from the Etna region in Italy. Etna
Mount Etna largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. Only Mount Teide on Tenerife (Spain) surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region west of the Black Sea. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under this mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder and king of gods, and the forges of Hephaestus were said to also be located underneath it. Mount Etna is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and is in an almost constant state of activity.