WHAT TO SEE IN THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS?

Itineraries to the Aeolian Islands

1) Lipari

Lipari is an Italian island belonging to the Aeolian Islands archipelago; it is the result of a complex series of volcanic eruptions over the millennia. Having last erupted in 1230, it is to be considered a still active volcano, albeit in a quiescent phase. In the main town, which bears the same name as the island, the busiest street is Corso Vittorio Emanuele, known by the inhabitants simply as "Il Corso." The most characteristic street is Via Garibaldi, from which numerous alleys branch off. It connects Lipari Castle with Piazza Ugo di Sant'Onofrio, known as "Marina Corta." The latter is one of the most characteristic squares in the Aeolian Islands, irregularly shaped, overlooking the sea and full of bars and restaurants. At the east end of the square is the fortress of Lipari Castle, while on the sea side stands the historic Church of the Anime del Purgatorio. Because of its location, the square is very busy, especially on summer evenings. Another square in Lipari's historic center is Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini, known as "Sopra la Civita." From here you can access the castle and the cathedral. The castle of Lipari constitutes the fortified citadel built on the rock of volcanic origin about 50 meters high overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. The castle houses the Aeolian regional archaeological museum, one of the most important in the Mediterranean, and has about fifty rooms, in which archaeological materials are displayed in chronological order. Valuable materials can be admired from both the settlement and the grave goods, vases, cippi, tombstones, and stone sarcophagi that testify to the evolution of the cult of the dead. Also pottery of various types and fashions, theater masks and clay statues.

2) Vulcano

Vulcano is an Italian island belonging to the Aeolian Islands archipelago.The island owes its name to the merger of several volcanoes, the largest of which is the Vulcano della Fossa.Further north is Vulcanello, which is connected to the rest of the island by an isthmus. Near the harbor are hot volcanic muds related to the island's sulfur activity. Although the last eruption occurred in 1888 - 1890, the volcano has never ceased to prove its vitality and different phenomena are still observed today: fumaroles, jets of steam both on the ridge and underwater, and the presence of sulfur mud with appreciated therapeutic properties. To the north numerous fumaroles continue to emit boric acid, ammonium chloride, and sulfur, which feed an industrial complex for sulfur production. The mud baths are one of the attractions attracting many people to take hot baths. Underwater emissions of sulfur gas are also visible near the sea.

3) Salina

Salina is an island of Italy, belonging to the archipelago of the Aeolian Islands; it is the second largest and second most populated after Lipari. Formed by six ancient volcanoes, it has the first and third highest reliefs in the archipelago: Mount Fossa delle Felci and Mount dei Porri, which retain the typical conical shape. Instead, its current name derives from a small lake in the hamlet of Lingua in the municipality of S. Marina di Salina, from which salt was extracted. On the beach of Pollara (hamlet of Malfa) some scenes from the film Il postino (1994), the last film starring Massimo Troisi, were filmed. In 1981 the Salina Regional Park was established and in 1984 the Nature Reserve The Fern and Leek Mountains was established.

4) Stromboli

Stromboli is an island located in the Tyrrhenian basin of the western Mediterranean Sea, the island is the northernmost of the Aeolian Islands. The island is home to the volcano of the same name. Stromboli Island is home to two population centers: Stromboli and Ginostra, on the other side of the island. A few hundred meters northeast of Stromboli Island is the volcanic neck of Strombolicchio, a remnant of an ancient volcanic chimney. The islet is home to an uninhabited, automated Navy lighthouse. Stromboli has been known, frequented and inhabited since remote antiquity of which the important prehistoric village of San Vincenzo is known, and its economy has always been based on typical Mediterranean agricultural production-olive, vine, fig-and then on fishing and seafaring. Excursions to the crater, leading to more than 900 meters above sea level, are organized daily with expert guides. Characteristic of the island, in addition to narrow streets passable only by motorcars and electric scooters, is the lack of night lighting in the streets. From the Observatory, you can see the lava from the volcano, the only one on the Aeolian Islands that is perpetually active, and the starry sky highlighted by the lack of lighting. During the tourist season, boats depart to allow tourists to swim at the Strombolicchio rock.

5) Panarea

Panarea is the smallest and least elevated island in the Aeolian archipelago, as well as the oldest, and with the islets of Basiluzzo, Spinazzola, Lisca Bianca, Dattilo, Bottaro, Lisca Nera and the Panarelli and Formiche rocks, it forms a micro-archipelago between Lipari and the island of Stromboli set on a single submarine base. The only possible landing in Panarea is allowed by the Ditella slipway in the village of San Pietro. The western and northern sides are characterized by high inaccessible and very rugged coastlines, a continuous succession of terraces, crevasses and striking solidified lava formations. The main conduit of the original volcanic complex is located approximately in the stretch of sea between La Nave rock and Cacatu rock. Also from the sea, on the west coast (Cala Bianca), the remains of a secondary volcanic chimney in the shape of a large funnel are visible instead. On the northeastern side of the island, on the Calcara beach it is still possible to glimpse fumaroles of vapors rising from fissures between the rocks, the last traces of volcanic activity with temperatures up to 100 °C. In some places among the pebbles on the seashore, as a result of these heat sources, the water boils up to the point of being scalding. Other underwater eruptive phenomena are evident in the seething waters between the islet of Bottaro and Lisca Bianca.

6) Alicudi

Alicudi is the westernmost of the Aeolian archipelago, is dominated by Mt. Filo dell'Arpa, its plan is almost circular, with steep and rugged coastline, and constitutes the emerged part, from the 1,500 m depth of the sea floor to the 675 m of the culminating point, of an extinct volcano, which arose around 150,000 years ago and was reshaped by successive eruptions and quaternary phenomena. The island is inhabited only on the southern slope, sloping down to the sea in lines (narrow plots), supported by dry stone walls. This slope, significantly anthropized for habitation and cultivation purposes, is less steep than the opposite slope, which is windswept and continually subject to erosive phenomena and consequent landslides, called sciare. Alicudi was inhabited from the Neolithic, as attested by traces found near the present harbor and on the top of the island. Some lava stone slab burials found in the Fucile locality in 1924 are dated to the 4th century B.C., with grave goods of oil lamps and clay pots. Fragments of Roman-era pottery are found on the east coast of the island. The island's beaches are pebble and rocky, and winter swells cause them to recede or advance, sometimes leaving a few patches of dark sand. Instead, ascending the steep mule tracks, one is immersed in Mediterranean scrub composed of heather, caper, broom, olive, lentisk and carob. The fauna is varied and rich; migratory birds appear in spring and autumn. The traditional houses have flat roofs to collect rainwater, which is piped into large cisterns placed to the side and below, and intercommunicating rooms side by side, which open onto terraces with masonry seats and typical truncated cone columns, on which the wooden beams of the pergolas rest, support of shading vines. There are no caves on the island into which the sea enters; however, on the western flank, halfway up but impossible to reach safely except by mountaineering techniques, is a cave populated by bats.

7) Filicudi

Filicudi is an island of Italy belonging to the archipelago of the Aeolian Islands, is dominated by Mount Fossa delle Felci, an extinct volcano 773 m high. Besides it, there are as many as seven other volcanoes all extinct for a long time and consequently heavily marked by erosion. On the island grows Mediterranean scrub consisting of the caper, broom, olive, lentisk and carob tree. The population, is distributed among the centers of Filicudi Porto, Valdichiesa, Pecorini, Pecorini a mare, Canale and Rocca di Ciavoli, connected by the island's only paved road and a dense network of pedestrian streets.