Sicily / Italy: Mount Etna Volcano & Casa Inglese Vorläufer (Vintage PC 1897)

rare vintage color lithograph postcard showing beautiful scenic views of mount etna (l'etna) in sicily, italy. the highly decorative front features multi-view illustrations (gruss aus style) including the volcanic landscape with riders on horses (monte etna-monti rossi, monte rosa) and a circular inset showing the historic mountain refuge station known as the english house (casa inglese). the front contains a lengthy personal message handwritten in german, clearly headed messina, 28 december 1897.
the back of the postcard is an early undivided back design formatted as an italian cartolina postale (carte postale d'italie). it features a red 10-centesimi poste italiane stamp with the profile of king umberto i. the card is cancelled with a double-ring messina postmark dated 29 december 1897, and contains a red oval commercial cachet stamp of cailler, walker & co. messina.
it is addressed in elegant german handwriting to fraeulein maria dolmetsch in stuttgart, germany. 

size: ~ 9 x 14 cm (1 cm ~ 0.39 inch)

postally used in 1897

condition: very good...please also refer to scans which show complete front and back of postcard

ansichstkarte, ak, postkarte, postcard, carte postale, tarjeta postale, 葉書, italia