The museum was founded by sculptor Nino Valenziano Santangelo, who has been working with lava stone since 1978. It exhibits 306 sculptures depicting myths from the Greco-Roman, cinematic, and literary worlds, as well as figures from Sicilian tradition. The works are intuitively carved from blocks of lava, with minimal intervention. A range of other artifacts highlight the multifaceted nature of lava: volcanic bombs, ash, rope lava, sheet lava, and lapilli.