U.S. President Donald Trump and other Prominent Officials including the newly elected President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, will be part of the Group of 7 or the G7 summit meeting. The theme of the event is "building the foundations of renewed trust." It will be held in Taormina, east coast of Sicily. The officials will be staying near the world's most active volcano, Mount Etna.
The largest and active volcano in Europe is Mount Etna. From Taormina, a hilltop village located 400 meters above the level of the sea, residents watch this volcano and named it Mungibeddu or "beautiful mountain." Every year, Mount Etna spews lava and residents admire the molten orange glow of the volcano, occasionally produces small chunks of porous rock.
Since the G7 summit will be held near the active volcano, the question raises if it could possibly erupt during the event. Boris Behncke, a geologist and an expert who closely monitors the Mount Etna, says that there are a bit of volcanic activity from January until the end of April. In March, the volcano has made headlines after a BBC crew was hit by scorching rocks.
Mount Etna also erupted 22 times earlier of this month, coughed up incandescent rock due to short bursts. Behncke states that the activity was very small but peculiar as they have never seen many little episodes like this. The eruption occurred with geyser, but with magma rather than water. One researcher defines it as having some hiccups; a phenomenon remains unknown and unexplained.
Behncke does not anticipate any volcanic activity throughout the G7 summit as there are no signs of unrest on the four distinct craters of Mount Etna. If increased amount of sulfur dioxide emissions are measured every five minutes, it could mean the eruption is imminent.
However, Behncke explains that Mount Etna is considered as "Sicilian Lady," a little bit mysterious and undecided so changes might still happen, though he also said that the current sulfur dioxide is low and there's no reason to worry.
Meanwhile, locals are happy for the attention brought by the summit in their town and hope to have more tourists in the future.