remains of a Roman tower, which
was possibly erected on the occasion of Hadrian's ascent of the
mountain.

During the Middle Ages Etna is frequently alluded to, among others by
Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Cardinal Bembo. The latter gives a
description of the mountain in the form of a dialogue, which Ferrara
characterises as "_erudito, e grecizzante, ma sensa nervi_." He
describes its general appearance, its well-wooded sides, and sterile
summit. When he visited the mountain it had two craters about a stone's
throw apart; the larger of the two was said to be about three miles in
circumference, and it stood somewhat above the other.[8]

[8] Petri Bembi DE AETNA. Ad Angelum Chabrielem Liber Impressum Venetiis
Aedibus Aldi Romani. Mense Februario anno M.V.D. (1495).

In 1541 Fazzello made an ascent of the mountain, which he briefly
describes in the fourth chapter of his bulky volume _De Rebus
Siculis_.[9] This chapter is entitled "_De Aetna monte et ejus
ignibus_;" it contains a short history of the mountain, and some mention
of the principal towns which he enumerates in the following order:
Catana, Tauromenium, Caltabianco, Linguagrossa, Castroleone,
Francavilla, Rocella, Randatio (Randazzo), Bronte, Adrano, Paterno, and
Motta. Fazzello speaks of only one crater.

[9] Fazzellus T. DE REBUS SICULIS. Panormi, 1558; folio.

In 1591 Antonio Filoteo, who was born on Etna, published a work in
Venice in which he describes the general features of the mountain, and
gives a special account of an eruption which he witnessed in 1536.[10]
The mountain was then, as now, divided into three _Regions_. The first
and uppermost of these, he asserts, is very arid, rugged, and uneven,
and full of broken rocks; the second is covered with forests; and the
third is cultivated in the ordinary manner. Of the height he remarks,
"Ascensum triginta circiter millia passuum ad plus habet." In regard to
the name, _Mongibello_, he makes a curious error, deriving it from
_Mulciber_, one of the names of Vulcan, who, as we have seen, was
feigned by the earlier poets to have had his forge within the mountain.

[10] Antonii Philothei de Homodeis Siculi, AETNAE TOPOGRAPHIA,
incendiorum Aetnaeorum Historia. Venetiis. 1591. Preface dated September,
1590.

In 1636 Carrera gave an account of Etna, followed by that of the Jesuit
Kircher, in 1638. The great eruption of 1669 was described at length by
various eye-witnesses, and furnished the subject of th