If you are in Western Sicily early in the year, and fancy skiing on Europe's most active volcano, it's definitely worth considering a day on the slopes of Mount Etna, you ski over lava, past small craters, look up to see the steam rising from the peak, and down to distant citrus groves and the blue waters of the Med.

The ski area we visited was small, so not worth an extended trip, but for a couple of days of low key family skiing it was worth it for the experience.

Here are a few tips. First of all check the weather - if winds are high, lifts will be intermittent if working at all (etnasci.com is good for snow, lifts and weather, all info is in Italian). Italian law requires you to have snowchains with you above a certain altitude in the winter months, but these are for sale on the lower slopes of Etna. Also be aware that your diesel car may not like the lower temperatures at the top - we had trouble starting ours.

We skied from Etna Nord, where there is one chair lift (blue slope), and three drags (red slope). All the slopes are relatively easy skiing compared to Alpine slopes, and are quite short, the blue in particular is very gentle. There is easy, cheap (€3/day) parking near the chair lift, but if it's a weekend and there is sun and snow, get there before 9am to get a spot, otherwise parking is possible on the roads. There are a collection of small huts on the lava field, which somehow manage to hire out skis, boots etc (at about €40/day for an adult), and sell great coffee and hot chocolate, and basic snacks (panini, chips etc). Queues on a sunny Sat/Sun took a long time, and given the short slopes and slow lifts, unless you are a complete beginner you'll do a lot more waiting than skiing. There is a very good restaurant at the bottom of the long drag, but to get back to the main lift, you'll have to make it up a long, steep, windy drag (if you fall off near the top, the only option is to take off skis and scramble down a rocky slope), which may be an issue if you have younger kids.

There is also a ski school.