I CUSTODI

Etna constantly regenerates itself, and causes new life and culture to be generated: frequent eruptions never make it the same as it was, and the same force has the work of the men who persist in inhabiting the Muntagna. Successive lava flows over the millennia have left a varied terrain. As much as we are helping them with our work, the vines must struggle to survive. Some may sink their roots into fertile soil, others find only bare rock. The microclimate is marked by extreme variations; we have cold temperatures in winter, almost Alpine, but in summer the hot Sicilian sun brings us back to the South. And drought is felt in the volcanic, sandy soils. Only with a lot of effort can we retain that little bit of moisture in the soil that allows the plants not to have to give up.