Fire and wine: Living in the shadow of Sicily's Mount Etna

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"When farmers clear and terrace the land for planting, they have toremove great chunks of lava stone, which they amass in one place,"Mangano explained. "There was one such pile in the center of ourproperty, so we encased it with reinforced cement and made it thefoundation for our house."
The Mangano home has evolved over the years. From its raisedvantage point, the ground floor and terrace offer views toward Etnaon one side and Monti Peloritani on the other.
On the main level, the sitting area and the kitchen are divided bya sculptural wall that is, in fact, a wood-burning stove built toexploit the radiant potential of lava stone. The custom design wasthe result of a collaboration by Martin Stoppel, a German who has aspecialty heating business called Calore Naturale, and thearchitect Giuseppe Palanga.
The master bedroom and bath also are on the main floor, along witha separate small apartment now used as a rental.
Upstairs are the bedrooms used by the Manganos' two sons, Giuseppeand Nino, who are finishing their degrees in Milan and Trieste, aswell as another bathroom and two professional studios. Mangano usesone for his massage services and the other is devoted to DebraMangano's osteopathic practice, a visceral manipulation based onthe Jean-Pierre Barral method.
The Manganos delight in feeding friends and visitors, serving winemade from their own vines, figs fresh from their trees, oil crushedfrom home-grown olives and vegetables from their substantialkitchen garden as well as the hillsides and woodland beyond.
In the garden the Manganos have built a small rental unit thatdoubles as a guest apartment, its large window looking out onCarmelo Mangano's growing collection of cacti.
Last year the Manganos added 3,000 square meters to their propertyby acquiring some steeply sloping land a little farther up thehill. There also is a small structure that, with local planningpermission, could be rebuilt as a home.
The Manganos paid very little for the land, simply because theseller knew Carmelo Mangano's uncle 60 years ago, explained AngeloCampagna, a family friend who is an architect and the founder ofSicilian Homes, a real estate company that handles property on andaround Mount Etna.
"Within the confines of the Park of Etna, which starts a littlehigher up the mountain, you can only rebuild existing dwellings, soeven decrepit huts are prized," he said. "Outside the park area youcan buy agricultural land that will vary in price from€30,000 to €100,000 a hectare" or about $18,620 to$62,060 an acre.
"The value depends on whether electricity and running water areavailable in the vicinity, and any small building that alreadyexists on the property," he said. "Even if there's none, if youfarm the land you can build a house in relation to the size of theproperty. You'd need a hectare at least for a small home of about120 square meters."