There is a lesser known train route starting from Catania called the Ferrovia Circumetnea (roughly "Round-Etna Railway"). It is a narrow-gauge little regular railway constructed in the end of the 1890s, quite like a children-train or something for tourists. It didn't have that much crowd or tourists in the end, it is a rather dull few hours of a trip but the closest you could get to the volcano if it is in the middle of eruption restrictions (as we had) and such a great way of having a chill day after walking your legs off 20+kms during the previous days.
