First some history and science:
Etna was known in Roman times as Aetna, a name thought to have
derived either from the Greek word aitho ("to burn") or the earlier
Phoenician word attano. The Arabs called the mountain Gibel Utlamat
("the mountain of fire"); this name was later corrupted into Mons
Gibel (translating from its Roman and Arab parts as 'Mountain
Mountain', since such repetition in Sicilian denotes largeness or
greatness) and subsequently Etna's current local name
Muncibeddhu'.
The mountain's regular and often dramatic eruptions made it a
major subject of interest for Classical mythologists and their
later successors, who sought to explain its behaviour in terms of
the various gods and giants of Roman and Greek legend. Aeolus, the
king of the winds, was said to have imprisoned the winds in caves
below Etna. Two mythological Giants were also imprisoned under the
mountain. Hephaestus or Vulcan, the god of fire and the forge, was
said to have had his forge under Etna and drove the fire-demon
Adranus out from the mountain, while the Cyclopes maintained a
smithy there where they fashioned lightning bolts for Zeus to use
as a weapon. The Greek underworld, Tartarus, was supposed to be
situated beneath Etna. Empedocles, a major pre-Socratic philosopher
and Greek statesman of the 5th century BC, was said to have met his
death in the volcano's crater. Etna supposedly erupted in sympathy
with the martyrdom of Saint Agatha in 251 AD, prompting Christians
thereafter to invoke her name against fire and lightning.
Etna is an isolated peak about 18 miles (29 km) from Catania
which dominates the eastern side of Sicily. Its shape is that of a
truncated cone with a ragged top, which is actually a complex of
large volcanic cones hosting four summit craters. Around 260
smaller craters, formed by flank eruptions, occupy the slopes. On
the southeastern side of Etna lies an immense gully, the Valle del
Bove, which is between 2000-4000 ft (600-1200 m) deep and over 3
miles (5 km) wide. Many of Etna's subsidiary craters reside within
this cleft, which is thought to have been created around 3,500
years ago by the collapse of an ancient caldera. The height of the
mountain varies with its eruptions; until 1911, there was only one
large cone and crater at the summit, but subsequent eruptions have
created new craters and cones.
The slopes of Etna form three distinct zones. The lower zone,
extending up to about 4000 ft (1200 m) are densely populated and
planted with vineyards, citrus fruits, and groves of olives, figs
and almonds. The middle zone (up to about 6900 ft / 2100 m) is
heavily wooded, mostly with pine and chestnut trees. At the top of
the mountain is a volcanic wasteland, dominated by old lava flows,
screes and volcanic ash. Few plants grow there and it is covered by
snow for much of the year.
Now for the challenge:
Hidden at 5733 feet on the slopes in the middle zone of the
mountain where woods are transitioning to dry greasses and open
volcanic ash and rock, is a white plastic container containing
various good trinkets. It requires a bit of hiking but nothing too
crazy, like walking on hot lava ir the use of rapelling gear.
The container is located under a few slabs of cooled pahoehoe
lava that are stacked to form a niche. the surface shows its hot
liquid origin with numerous ripples and stretch marks scarring the
surface of this dark brown outcrop. As you are there just imagine
the time when all of this mountainside, now cool and peaceful, was
a glowing massive river of molten stone. Current reminders of this
massive energy still abound with the soil in this area being fine
black volcanic ash, spread only in the last few years, from the
still active volcanic craters at Etna's summit.
To get the cache don't use the listed coordinate, it is close
but not close enough, it is a guide only. To get the real Latitude,
you must subtract the year that the lava overran and destroyed the
city walls of Catania, far below, from the last four digits of the
posted latitude.
Example: If the year it happened was 1997 you would subtract
1997 from 37° 43.734 and get 37° 41.737 (its not there)
To get the real longitude you must dive into mythology. The text
above mentioned two giants who were imprisoned under the mountain.
The one whose breath is said to drive Etna's eruptions is whose
name you must find. Subtract the number of letters in his name
(english spelling) from the last two digits of the posted
coordinate and you will have the true longitude. This giants name
most interestingly and coincedentally was found to have something
to do with newly discovered volcanoes in space around the planet
Saturn, revealed by the Cassini spacecraft in late 2005!
Find this cache while you can as it will not last forever, for
someday this tranquil side of the mountain will one day again be
active and this cache and all that surrounds will will be lost
under the renewed inexorable flow of Liquid Earth!
Small note on cache maintenance: I am in Sicily
for one week out of every month, sometimes two, year round. this
cache can easily be watched my me and i'm familiar with the
area.