THEItaly it is full of wonders and unusual sites, more or less known. One of them is the Mount Busca (Tuscan-Romagna Apennines), which is located near the SP 22 per Tredozio, in the province of Forlì-Cesena. The mountain, which rises for 740 meters above sea level, it is famous for the presence on its top of the smallest "volcano" in the world, visited every year by dozens of tourists and onlookers from all over Italy. However, it must be specified that it is not a real volcano, but "more simply" (so to speak) of a burning fountain. The improper name of "volcano" comes from the shape of the fountain and its eternal flames, reminiscent of erupting volcanoes. The flames are produced by the dispersion of the methane gas and other hydrocarbons in the air, which are released from the ground.
The smallest "volcano" in the world and its flames have been burning for centuries
La burning fountain of Monte Busca it is not the only one present on the Emilian Apennines, even if it is the most famous. Furthermore, its flame seems to have been burning for centuries. One of the first attested references to this smallest "volcano" in the world dates back to 1577, in the text "Description of all Italy” of the Dominican friar Leandro Albertini. Interest in this fiery fountain grew greatly in the Nine hundred. At the end of the Thirties it became the property of Methane Hydrocarbon Company, who had a pipeline built for the methane. The high costs and the reduced gas flow made it fail the project in few years. The same fate also met the subsequent projects, the last of which (a drilling in search of significant deposits) dated 1975.
Over the decades, the burning fountain of Monte Busca has been used for the most varied purposes, from making tools to cooking. Its flames they rarely go out (such as during heavy rains), but when this happens, they are promptly re-lit to avoid methane dispersion.
Featured photo: © Lamberto Zannotti – Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
