Sicilian family save their restaurant from Mount Etna eruption
A Sicilian family of restaurateurs and hoteliers toiled for hours to divert an advancing mass of lava which threatened to destroy their restaurant last week.
After five days of eruptions on Mount Etna, Davide Corsaro was woken by one of his employees at 3am last Wednesday (18 July) to be told of an eruption only 100 metres from his restaurant.
Corsaro owns and manages the 19-bedroom Hotel Corsaro and the 30-seat La Capannina restaurant. Both are in a mountain refuge at 2,100 metres, where cable cars and ski-lifts depart.
Corsaro said: "At 7am the lava began to move faster. We made calls to the emergency services, but they did nothing until midday. We built a barrier of earth to control the path of the lava."
He said 10 firemen arrived two hours later and attacked the lava flow with 100,000 litres of water.
At one point the lava was only two metres from the restaurant.
A total of 20 people, including four members of the Corsaro family, successfully diverted the lava and saved La Capannina.
"It was like an American movie," Corsaro said.
The area is now closed to tourists. The state has promised financial support until the mountain refuge reopens but Corsaro said he was not holding his breath.
Road repairs to damage caused by an eruption in 1983 have not been finished. "We have a bad experience of broken promises," he said.
by Ben Walker ben.walker@rbi.co.uk
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 26 July - 1 August 2001