Etna from Nicolosi: 19 km up Europe's highest active volcano

Mount Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe, 3,340 m high, and the road from Nicolosi to Rifugio Sapienza is the classic way to ride up it. The Giro d'Italia calls it the most iconic side. It is about 19 km and 1,200 m of climbing from a town on the lower slopes to a refuge at 1,910 m, surrounded by black lava fields and old craters. The gradient is irregular rather than steep, but heat, wind and altitude make it a harder day than the numbers suggest. Here is how the climb rides, how to pace it, and what to know before you go.

The climb from Nicolosi

The Giro gives the ascent through Nicolosi as about 19 km at an average of about 6.3%. Our track on this page starts in Nicolosi at 699 m and measures 18.2 km and 1,212 m of climbing to the refuge, an average of 6.6%. It is never very steep for long. It is also rarely steady, and that is what makes it tiring.

• Nicolosi and the lower slopes. The first 6 km climb out of town at 4.5–9%. According to the Giro, the southern and eastern sides of Etna are cultivated and built up to about 1,000 m, so the lower slopes climb between houses and fields.
• The dip and the middle. Around 6 km our track drops briefly, the only descent of the climb. Then the gradient rises and falls between 5% and 9.5% for the next ten kilometres. Above the cultivated slopes the land becomes bare and dark. The Giro notes that the lack of vegetation up here has nothing to do with the altitude; it is the lava.
• The last kilometres. Our track has one of its steepest kilometres, about 9.5%, with only 3 km to go, then eases for the final run to Rifugio Sapienza. The craters around the refuge are extinct.

How to pace a volcano

For most amateurs this is a climb of an hour and a half to two hours. The varying gradient tempts you to ride every steep ramp hard and freewheel every easy one. Resist it.

• Pace by effort, not by speed. Hold one effort and let your speed change with the road. On a climb this irregular, a power meter or heart-rate monitor is your best guide. Our guide to pacing a climb with power shows how.
• Use the dip, don't race it. The short descent around 6 km is a chance to drink and eat, not to attack.
• Respect the heat. Summer days can be very hot, and above the cultivated slopes there is little shade. Start early and carry more water than you think you need; hydration in the heat has the details.
• Watch the wind. The Giro's own description of the climb warns that near the top the wind can blow so hard that staying in the saddle becomes impossible. Check the forecast for the refuge, not for Nicolosi. Our guide to wind forecasts for cyclists explains what to look for.
• Pack for the descent. At 1,910 m the air is cooler than on the coast. A gilet and arm warmers make the long descent back to Nicolosi much more pleasant.

Why it is Etna

The Giro first finished on Etna in 1967, when Franco Bitossi won the stage. It returned in 1989, when Acacio Da Silva won, but the race's own history says strong wind discouraged the riders from attacking, and the organisers shelved the climb for a while. When it came back in 2011, Alberto Contador attacked on the Nicolosi side and won, celebrating for the first time with the pistol-shot gesture that became his trademark. From 2011 the Giro climbed Etna six times in eleven years, from several sides, and the stage always comes early in the race.

The mountain itself is protected twice over. The Parco dell'Etna, founded in 1987 as the first regional park in Sicily, covers about 59,000 hectares, and Mount Etna was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on 21 June 2013.

When to go, and what to watch for

• An active volcano. Etna erupts often, and access to the higher parts of the mountain can be restricted. The park publishes the mayors' ordinances and updates on volcanic activity on its website; check them before you go.
• Season. Spring and autumn avoid the worst of the summer heat.
• Traffic. Rifugio Sapienza is the last point on the volcano reachable by car or bus, and a cable car runs from there to the Montagnola at 2,500 m, so expect traffic on the road up.
• Train somewhere warm. If you are planning a winter block on a volcano, our guide to winter training in Tenerife covers a similar kind of climbing.

Ride it in Moveee Indoor

The route on this page is the real road from Nicolosi to Rifugio Sapienza, with its height at every point. In Moveee Indoor your smart trainer reproduces that gradient as you ride, so every change of slope arrives where it does on the volcano, and the world around you is built from map data of the real place. It is good practice for the hardest skill on Etna: holding one steady effort on a road that keeps changing under you.

Ride it with a target power and look at the saved power data afterwards: on a well-paced ride the line is flat even when the gradient isn't. It runs in the browser or as the Mac and Windows app. Prefer your own device? Download the GPX above and load it into any app that rides GPX files.

The short version

About 19 km and 1,200 m from Nicolosi to Rifugio Sapienza at 1,910 m, on the Giro's most iconic side of Europe's highest active volcano. The gradient keeps changing, so ride by effort, use the one short dip to eat, and expect wind and heat. Check the park's notices on volcanic activity before you go, and pack a layer for the descent.