Lipari

Lipari, where history intertwines with volcanoes to create archaeology

Lipari is the largest and most populated Aeolian Island.
The first volcanic activity above sea level started around 220,000 years ago and since then, in more or less regular periods, it has built the whole northern part of the island. The southern part, the volcanic domes of Monte Guardia, Monte Giardina and the Stacks, developed 45,000 to 15,000 years ago.
The last volcanic activity, with the emission of pumice and obsidian , took place between 800 and 1100 AD in the north-eastern part of the island, between the villages of Canneto and Acquacalda.
From a naturalistic point of view, Lipari has always attracted the curiosity of researchers because it is a unique place where you can observe different types of volcanic manifestations on the same island, from dark basalt and obsidian to pumice.
Lipari has always been the most inhabited and main Aeolian Island, as shown by its history.
Even in ancient times, Lipari had always been at the centre of the Mediterranean trade routes, thanks to the vast presence of obsidian, used at the time for various kinds of tools and uses. It was a raw material in the Aeolian territory that guaranteed a high chance of profit and economic success.
Historical discoveries throughout Italy, France and Dalmatia show how obsidian from Lipari was an innovative tool for the construction of tools and was even exported thousands of kilometres away.
The combination of natural works of art created by volcanic activity and historical and archaeological works created by humankind during its thousand-year-old history, makes a visit to Lipari a unique experience.

Salina, the green island with twin mountains

The stacks of Panarea

The summit craters

“Vulcanian” eruptions

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

Stromboli, the volcano that breathes

Lipari, where history intertwines with volcanoes to create archaeology

The pure white of the pumice quarries

The senses tell The summit craters

The malleability of Vulcano’s mud

Malvasia delle Lipari DOC

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

Panarea, where sea and volcanoes become sculptors

At the heart of trade in history

Volcanoes as a natural art form

The hidden part of the Aeolian Islands

How pumice is formed

Panarea and its history

The Sciara del Fuoco

The senses tell The Stacks of Panarea

Lipari Castle, “fused” with the lava

Filicudi: small island, big history

Vulcano, the youngest of the Aeolian works of art

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

The polis of the living and the necropolis of the dead

Lipari at the centre of Mediterranean history

Seven islands, dozens of volcanoes

Myths and legends about volcanoes

Filicudi, a submerged paradise

The underwater morphological elements of the Aeolian Islands

The senses tell The salt lake of Lingua

The senses tell The Village of Capo Graziano

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

Tsunamis: a not uncommon phenomenon in Stromboli

Where do Vulcano’s gases come from?

The prehistoric village of Cala Junco

The salt lake of Lingua

The senses tell The Pumice Quarries of Lipari

The ancient production of salt

The underwater fumarolic activity of Lisca Bianca

The Aeolian Islands, where volcanology was born

Pollara, between poetry and beauty

The senses tell The Sciara del Fuoco

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

Alicudi, where time has stood still

The 2002-03 eruption

The Thermal Baths of Saint Calogerus

The Village of Capo Graziano