Naval Air Station Sigonella
Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella is an Italian Air Force base, and a U.S. Navy installation at Italian Air Force Base Sigonella in Sicily, Italy. The whole NAS is a tenant of the Italian Air Force, which has the military and the administrative control. It serves as an Italian base for the 41º Stormo Antisom .
NAS Sigonella acts also as landlord to more than 40 other U.S. commands and activities. It is located 15 kilometres (9 mi) west and 11 km (7 mi) south of the city of Catania, and some 40 km (25 mi) south of Mount Etna.
A C-5 Galaxy of the US Air Force at NAS Sigonella, against the backdrop of nearby Mount Etna
NAS Sigonella during flooding in December 2005.
A taxiway on NAS Sigonella
Image: FRONT GATE SIGONELLA 1962
Mount Etna, or simply Etna, is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina and Catania. It is located above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is one of the tallest active volcanoes in Europe, and the tallest peak in Italy south of the Alps with a current height of 3,357 m (11,014 ft), though this varies with summit eruptions. Over a six-month period in 2021, Etna erupted so much volcanic material that its height increased by approximately 100 ft (30 m), and the southeastern crater is now the tallest part of the volcano.
Etna with the city of Catania in the foreground (December 2007)
February 2021 eruption seen from Naval Air Station Sigonella
Mount Etna from the south with the smoking peak in the upper left and a lateral crater in the centre
An artist's impression of the 1766 eruption