Mount Etna (Rifugio Sapienza)

Mount Etna (Rifugio Sapienza)

The Zafferana road is the eastern climb to the Rifugio Sapienza, at about 1,900 m on Mount Etna, in Sicily, Italy. The refuge is the Giro d’Italia’s usual Etna finish. Etna has been the race’s most-used climb in recent years, and the stages of 2017 and 2022 both ended at the Sapienza.

This ride starts just above Zafferana Etnea. In 1992 a lava diversion in the Valle del Bove halted a flow whose front had come within 850 m of the town. The road climbs west at an even gradient and joins the road from Nicolosi near the top. The final stretch runs between the two Silvestri craters, formed in the eruption of 1892 and named that year after the volcanologist Orazio Silvestri. The ride ends at the Rifugio Sapienza, where the cable car leaves for the Montagnola.