On the night of July 19, 2019, Davide Basile pointed his camera toward Mount Etna from Riposto, Sicily. The volcano had been erupting for days, and he only wanted to capture the moment.
What emerged from the shutter looked as if it had been designed by an artist: the jets of lava rose and opened in the air, forming, with impossible precision, the silhouette of a phoenix with outstretched wings emerging from the crater.
For years, the image circulated without credit, and many swore it was a composite made with artificial intelligence. Snopes investigated it thoroughly and confirmed something simple: there are no tricks; it’s real fire forming its own myth.