In 1669 two fumeroles, or side vents, of Mount Etna erupted and lava began to flow towards the city, eventually engulfing  part of it. The flows stopped just behind a Benedictine monastery, a miracle the monks were, no doubt, happy to affirm. These monks appear in a famous painting of the event in Catania’s cathedral, done by the painted Michelangelo Bonadies (see detail below).