The Aeolian Islands consists of the following islands:
Vulcano
Vulcano
In terms of size, Vulcano is the third largest island and the most Southerly of the Aeolian group.
The island was evacuated due to the volcanic activity that periodically takes place in the Great Crater. Nowadays, activity is limited to fumaroles that can be found just about anywhere on the island but tend to be concentrated in the area around the Fossa and on the isthmus between Faraglione and Vulcanello.
Panarea
Panarea
Panarea is the smallest of the islands. It has a remarkable variety of differing environments in comparison with the other islands, especially in terms of flora and is a fascinating site for naturalists.
Stromboli
Stromboli
Stromboli is the only island in the archipelago that has permanent volcanic activity. Eruptions are somewhat fragmented and this type of phenomenon has been labelled “Strombolian Activity” The island is the most Northerly of the group and its economy is based almost solely on tourism. Despite difficult access, the plains areas were at one time highly fertile and cultivated and Stromboli was renowned for the production of malvasia grapes.
Filicudi
Filicudi
Recent studies have dated the lava at the centre of the Zucco Grande as being more than a million years old, thus making it the oldest product yet known from the whole archipelago.
Alicudi
Alicudi
Despite its appearance of having been created at the dawn of time and the initial visual impact it has on visitors, Alicudi is the youngest of the islands. Nowadays it is scarcely populated and has no road network although up to the end of the 1800’s there were more inhabitants. The Eastern slopes of the island are almost completely covered with terraces that indicate past agricultural activities. The wild Western slopes remain uninhabited due to their steepness and inaccessibility.
Salina
Salina
Salina rises from the sea capped by the volcanoes Monte dei Porri to the West and Monte Rivi and Monte Fossa delle Felci to the East. Salina, like the other islands making up the archipelago, emerged from the seas during the Quaternary period.
History, art and culture
Man first settled on the islands of Lipari and Salina some centuries before 4000 BC drawn no doubt by the incredible natural resource at that time of obsidian, the natural black glass that spewed out from the volcanic Mount Pelato in the extreme North-East of Lipari. In that period, man had still not mastered metals and obsidian was the best material for making a sharp cutting edge and as such was widely sought after. Vast quantities of obsidian were exported to Sicily and Southern Italy but also reached the shores of Liguria, Provence and Dalmatia.
The export business brought great wealth to the island leading to one of the largest and most widespread populations of that time. It was only a thousand years later, in about 3000 BC, when the obsidian trade was at its peak that the minor Aeolian Islands began to be populated. During the next 1500 years, the early Sicilian settlers who made homes on the fertile high plains that were ideally suited to agriculture and sheep farming were gradually replaced by others from further afield who mastered the art of managing the exceptional natural resources. These new inhabitants settled in a natural fortress, where the present-day castle is situated, that overlooked the approaches to the island of Lipari and it was only in peacetime that they actually lived on the plains spread below where the city now lies.
After several centuries of hard economic and demographic recession, the islands thrived once more thanks to a new influx of people this time coming from continental Greece. It was from these Aeolian people that the islands took the name that is still in use 4000 years later. New types of dwellings began to be built on all the islands for the densely populated settlements. They were round buildings with solid stone and mud walls and were the beginnings of the Bronze Age in our Western countries.
Around 1430 BC, the people from Aeolian descent were replaced by others from the nearby Sicilian coast who brought another new culture. The town of Capo Milazzese on the island of Panarea takes its name from them.
In about 1270 BC new Ausonian settlers arrived from the Campania coasts. Around 900 BC the thriving community in Lipari became depopulated and for more than three hundred years the castle and perhaps even the whole island was deserted.
The latter part of the 8th century BC saw the Greeks consecutively colonise Southern Italy, Sicily and Lipari, one of the last colonies.
During the 50th Olympiad (580-576 BC), Lipari was colonised by some Greeks of Doric origin from Cnidus and Rhodes, who were led by a Heraclid named Pentathlos and had earlier made an unsuccessful attempt to found a colony at modern-day Marsala. The new colonists were first and foremost faced with the need to fight off Etruscan incursions. They therefore created a powerful fleet, which led them to many victories and ensured their supremacy of the seas. They used captured booty to erect some splendid votary monuments in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi some of whose bases can still be seen today.
Lipari later fell under the dominion of Carthage and was still in Carthaginian hands at the outbreak of the first Punic War. The archipelago became one of the Carthaginian’s most important naval bases because of its excellent ports and strategic geographical position. In 262 BC, the Roman consul Cornelius Scipio mistakenly believed that Lipari could easily be taken and was captured along with all of his men by Hannibal. In 258 BC, Aulus Atilius Calatinus besieged Lipari. In 257 BC, the waters around the Aeolian Islands were the site of a fierce battle between the fleets of Carthage and Rome. Lipari was conquered by the Romans in 252 BC.
The Aeolian Islands were of great strategic importance during the civil war between Octavian and Sextus Pompey.
During the Christian period in the late middle Ages, Lipari was an Episcopal see and was the destination for many pilgrims that travelled from far and wide to visit it.
During the early middle ages, the volcanoes on the island of Lipari suddenly became active after being dormant for decades. In 839 AD, Lipari was attacked and destroyed by Muslim marauders, who massacred many inhabitants, took others as slaves and violated the relics of Saint Bartholomew. Lipari remained almost completely deserted for several centuries until the Normans reconquered Sicily and sent Abbot Ambrogio and a small group of Benedictines to settle on the island in 1083. A small community began to form again around the monastery, the remains of which can still be seen at the side of the cathedral.
Lipari
Lipari is the largest and most populated of the Aeolian archipelago and has always been their capital. All the other islands, except Salina that is independent, are part of the Lipari Municipal Council. Lipari is the only island in this area where the presence of man has been constant for seven thousand years. Nowadays, volcanic activity is limited to the presence of fumaroles and hot springs that are mostly located in the West side of the island.
UNESCO INSCRIPTION
Lipari , Stromboli and Vulcano
The Aeolian Islands
Inscription N° 908 2000 N (i)
In the crystal clear waters surrounding the Northeast coast of Sicily lie seven paradisiacal isles that almost seem to belong to the very beginning of time. The isles forming the Aeolian archipelago look like seven huge lava splinters that have erupted from somewhere in the depths.
They are seven isles where a holiday-maker can discover an island lost in time, experience living at one with nature and find countless beaches, coves, grottos, inlets and needle rocks. Beneath the surface lies yet another world with an incomparable variety and wealth of marine life.
Apart from the outstanding natural beauty of this area, the geological and vulcanological features along with seven thousand years of history that you can discover while visiting the prehistoric villages and the Archaeological Museum at Lipari make the archipelago one of the most interesting places on Earth. The infrastructure for tourism is by now well established and can offer dream holidays all year round.
The Committee inscribed the Aeolian Islands in the World Heritage List as natural site in accordance with criterion (i)
Criterion (i): “The islands’ volcanic landforms represent classic features in the continuing study of volcanology world-wide”.
The Aeolian Islands offer an extraordinary example of live volcanoes.
“With their scientific study from at least the 18th century, the islands have provided two of the types of eruptions (Vulcanian and Strombolian) to vulcanology and geology textbooks and so have featured prominently in the education of all geoscientists for over 200 years”.
“They continue to provide a rich field for volcanological studies of on-going geological processes in the development of landforms”.
