Zafferana Etnea sits on the eastern side of Etna, a town of about nine thousand people stretched along a ridge above the sea, and it has a reputation that is half sweet and half dangerous. The sweet half is honey. The slopes around the town are rich in flowering plants, from broom and wild thyme to orange blossom, and the honey made here is some of the best in Sicily, with a festival in autumn that fills the main street with stalls. The dangerous half is the volcano. In 1992 a lava flow from Etna advanced towards the town, and engineers and the army worked for months to divert it, with helicopters dropping concrete blocks and explosives breaking up the lava tubes. The flow stopped just short of the houses, and the story is still told with a mixture of pride and relief.
The ride here from the coast, or from the ring road around the volcano, is a pleasant one. The roads are narrow and winding, bordered by stone walls, citrus groves and vineyards, with the black volcanic soil showing between the rows. The surface is generally decent but varies, and some corners are tight enough to need a low gear. Etna is always there above you, usually with a thread of steam from the summit. Traffic is lighter than on the south side, and the town is much less crowded with tour groups.
Zafferana has the full range of services. There are petrol stations, supermarkets, bakeries and restaurants, and the town square is a good place for coffee and a pastry. Local specialities include almond sweets, chestnut dishes in autumn, and wines from the slopes of Etna. The nearby town of Santa Venerina is part of the same pleasant, lived-in landscape, and the coast, with its sea cliffs and fishing villages, is a short ride away.
The best months to come are late spring and early autumn, when the air is clear and warm but not hot, and the vegetation is at its most colourful. In summer the lower slopes can be very hot, and in winter the upper road can be icy or closed.
If you have time, ask for directions to the viewpoints that look into the Valle del Bove, the great crater-like depression on Etna's eastern side. It is a vast, strange place, and a reminder of the scale of what lives next door.