A night view of a recent eruption of Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, near Nicolosi, Sicily. The huge display of fire, smoke and lava was enough to rival any fireworks show, but experts say the eruptions posed no threat to villages on the lower slopes.
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Glowing red lava and plumes of smoke spew from Mount Etna. The volcano's last major eruption was in 2001.
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The volcano enjoys the world's longest record of historic eruptions, with its first one recorded in the year 1500BC. Since then it has been the scene of almost 200 eruptions, making it one of the world's most closely-studied volcanoes.
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Over the last two decades alone, Mount Etna has seen 46 eruptions. During Mount Etna's 2001 eruption two streams of lava threatened the village of Zafferana.
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To the ancient Greeks, Mount Etna was the realm of Vulcan, god of fire, and the house of the one-eyed monster known as the Cyclops.
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As Mount Etna erupted, an underwater volcano with a base larger than Washington D.C. has been discovered just off the shores of Sicily, a scientist with Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology confirmed.
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Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of eruption. Although it can occasionally be very destructive, it is not generally regarded as being particularly dangerous, and thousands of people live on its slopes and in the surrounding areas.
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Two men watch the light dislay 300m from the base of the volcano's crater in the south east. The volcano lives up to its nickname "friendly giant."
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Over 6,500 ft (2,000 m) of the mountain is covered with ashes and lava. Its fertile slopes have been used for growing crops and raising cattle for more than 3,000 years.
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A plume of smoke rises into the air as dawn breaks. Since recorded history of the volcano, which started in 1500 BC, Mount Etna has only been responsible for 77 confirmed fatalities as a result of its eruptions.
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In that time Mount Etna has caused a fatality every 2.5 times it erupts.
Italy's volcanoes
Mount Etna in Sicily is the highest active volcano in Europe and is twice as high as the second-highest volcano in Italy, the Monte Amiata volcano in Tuscany.
Mount Vesuvius near the city of Naples in Southern Italy is the only active volcano on the mainland of Europe. In AD79, a Vesuvius eruption killed 3600 people in the city of Pompeii which was buried in the ash. Nowadays, Naples stands nearby. If the volcano erupts, the city may be destroyed - and an eruption is overdue. The fossilised remains of some of those killed and covered in the ashes of the AD 79 eruption can still be seen.
The Stromboli volcano has been continually erupting for probably around 5000 years. This is rare for a volcano.
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