THE MYTH Legend has it that the two brothers, Amphìnomos and Anapias, during a frightening eruption of Etna, rescued their elderly parents by carrying them on their shoulders. Slowed by their burden, they were overtaken by the lava, but their piety was miraculously rewarded: the river of fire divided into two, leaving unharmed the brothers with their parents.
Detail of an engraving in P. Carrera "Delle memorie istoriche della città di Catania" ,1639.
Detail of an engraving in P. Carrera "Descriptio Aetnae".
Fresco by Annibale Carracci in the Camerino Farnese, late 16th cent.
M. M. Lazzaro, "Candelabrum of the Pious brothers", 1956, Piazza Università, Catania.
