Etna is the most recent and northernmost part of the volcanic province of SE Sicily. It is located north of a fast subsiding recent depression (Catania Plain) in the axial region of an isostatically rising broad anticline trending E-W. This structure has been cut by a belt of regional faults parallel to the coast between Catania and Messina, with an overall seaward downthrow. Mt Etna is composed of different volcanoes which have in part grown side by side and in part one on top of the other: several units of this complex sequence have been recognized, but the geological picture of Etna is far from being complete. Few tholeiites and alkali basalts have been recognized among Etnean lavas, the bulk being alkali andesites (hawaiites l.s.) to latitandesites (mugearites l.s.). Petrological research on Etna can give valuable information about the differentiation processes affecting basaltic magmas in a similar tectonic setting