Mount Etna, or Etna is an complex-stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily in Italy. The volcanic edivice is located close to in the City of Catania. Etna the highest active volcano in Europe and the highest peak in Italy south of the Alps with a current height of 3,326 m. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the 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 in the Canary Islands surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region west of the Black Sea.
Mount Etna is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and is in an almost constant state of activity. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations. In June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Etna lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. Although for a long time the volcano was classified as good-natured, as it erupted predominantly effusive, it shows characteristics of different volcanic types. On the one hand it erupts effusively, but it can also erupt explosively. Thus Etna is known for large fissure eruptions, but also for violent paroxysmal eruptions. Indeed, several pyroclastic flows have already been observed. Volcanologists have found that Etna lava varies and contains more water in recent years. So the eruptions can become more and more explosive.
Sources: WIKIPEDIA, GVP, vulkane.net