Sant'Alfio and the 1928 Etna eruption
Vincenzo Miconi - CC4.0
On November 3, 1928, in the middle of the night, an eruptive vent opened and the lava channeled into the Magazzeni torrent, which borders the town of S. Alfio.
The danger was imminent, people took the most expensive possessions from their homes and rushed to the Church, invoking the help of God and the Patron Saints. The citizens left in procession towards Magazzeni with the Sacred Relics of the three Patron Saints, when they arrived at Contrada Finaiata, the earth began to tremble and a dark noise was heard. Having reached the small church - oratory of the Cerrita fiefdom, the lava flow stopped.
In the place where the flow stopped the small Magazzeni sanctuary, in memory of the escape from danger for the town of Sant'Alfio.
In memory of this event, in the sacristy of the Mother Church of Sant'Alfio there is a painting in which the procession of the faithful moving towards the lava is painted and, above, the image of the Three Patron Saints. A curiosity linked to this painting is the fact that while the two Saints Philadelphus and Cirino carry the palm in their hands, the palm of Saint Alfio lies on the ground in front of him. This is because, on the day of the eruption, the statues of the Patron Saints were placed on the altar and, in the rush, the silver palm that Saint Alfio was holding in his hand was not screwed on well and fell to the ground. The people wanted to read this event as a happy omen: Saint Alfio had thrown his palm to the ground to indicate that that land belonged to him and that the lava had to respect it by stopping.
On November 4, 1928, another mouth opened eruption which quickly submerged ancient Mascali. The noise heard the previous day in Sant'Alfio was due to an abrupt stop of the lava current, which is believed to have entered an underground chasm.
