Italian Towns Are Getting Bombarded With Volcanic Rocks

There was a pleasant crunching underfoot this weekend in Sicily, but it wasn't from a newly fallen patina of snow. Rather, the ground was covered in a carpet of pitch-black pebbles, thanks to Mount Etna distributing the contents of her belly all over the region in tooth-chipping showers of rocky hail.

Europe's most active volcano made going outside a hurtful proposition on Saturday, unless you had an umbrella or helmet and chain mail. Rapid bombardments of falling stones clattered off the tops of buildings and cars, making streets look like a convoy of asphalt trucks had overturned. In Giardini-Naxos, a charming beach town just east of the volcano, pedestrians used umbrellas to get across town and used brooms to sweep away the rapidly accumulating gravel. Above, the skies were unusually absent of aircraft. Local airports cancelled flights due to fear of damage.