Filicudi

Filicudi: small island, big history

L’isola di FilicudiThe first populations have been present in Filicudi, as well as in the other six islands, since the Upper Neolithic Age around 5000 BC.
The fairly recent excavations carried out in the locality of Capo Graziano have brought to light around twenty oval-shaped huts, some of them with a “herringbone” structure, located on a promontory on the western side of the mountain at around 100 metres above sea level. These buildings were built to better defend themselves from the frequent attacks and violent raids suffered by the island. Autochthonous pottery belonging to the Diana period was found inside the huts and on the southern shore of the port. Other proto-Mycenaean style pottery found near the village of Capo Graziano allows us to understand how the village continued to evolve until 1430 BC, when it probably ceased to exist following violent destruction. Finally, on the highest point of Capo Graziano is the ancient sacrificial altar of these ancient peoples.
Beyond the emerged part, Capo Graziano preserves thousands of years of history in its seabed, creating an underwater museum accessible only to the most experienced divers with an advanced licence. There are nine wreckages lying in the bottom of Capo Graziano due to the shallow waters here. There are several routes that allow divers and fans of culture to admire the wonders of the seabed. You can descend to a maximum depth of 45 metres, to admire wreck A from the Greek age, dating back to the 2nd century BC.
From the same point, you can see wreck G, still almost entirely covered up and dating back to the 5th century BC. Beyond the wrecks, on the seabed of Capo Graziano, you can admire numerous amphorae , pottery and objects. Part of these archaeological finds is kept in Filicudi’s Museum of Bernabò Brea, divided into five exhibition areas, located in Filicudi Porto in a characteristic Aeolian house.

The senses tell The Pumice Quarries of Lipari

The salt lake of Lingua

The polis of the living and the necropolis of the dead

Lipari Castle, “fused” with the lava

The underwater morphological elements of the Aeolian Islands

The underwater fumarolic activity of Lisca Bianca

Seven islands, dozens of volcanoes

Malvasia delle Lipari DOC

Filicudi, a submerged paradise

Panarea, where sea and volcanoes become sculptors

The Sciara del Fuoco

Lipari at the centre of Mediterranean history

Stories of the sea and shipwrecks. The wrecks of the Aeolian Islands

Between brush strokes of sulphur and clouds of steam: the fumaroles of the port of Vulcano

The senses tell The Stacks of Panarea

The ancient production of salt

The senses tell The Village of Capo Graziano

Tsunamis: a not uncommon phenomenon in Stromboli

Salina, the green island with twin mountains

The stacks of Panarea

The senses tell The Sciara del Fuoco

The Village of Capo Graziano

The pure white of the pumice quarries

Stromboli, the volcano that breathes

Vulcano, the youngest of the Aeolian works of art

The senses tell The summit craters

“Vulcanian” eruptions

Alicudi, where time has stood still

The Thermal Baths of Saint Calogerus

Where do Vulcano’s gases come from?

The Cathedral of Lipari and the Norman Cloister of the Benedictine Monastery

Panarea and its history

Lipari, where history intertwines with volcanoes to create archaeology

“Strombolian” activity in the place where its definition was born

At the heart of trade in history

How pumice is formed

Pollara, between poetry and beauty

The 2002-03 eruption

The summit craters

The Gran Cratere of the Fossa: when the volcano becomes a sculptor

Volcanoes as a natural art form

The prehistoric village of Cala Junco

The malleability of Vulcano’s mud

The hidden part of the Aeolian Islands

Myths and legends about volcanoes

The Aeolian Islands, where volcanology was born

The senses tell The salt lake of Lingua

Filicudi: small island, big history