Mount Etna (; or
Mongibello, or
â Muntagna, ) is an active
stratovolcano on the east coast of
Sicily,
Italy, in the
Province of Catania, between
Messina and
Catania. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the
African Plate and the
Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano in
Europe, currently high, though this varies with summit eruptions. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the
Alps. Etna covers an area of 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 in
Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region. 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.