June 18 The infamous Stromboli

 

Basiluzzo

This is Basiluzzo the smallest of the islands. It featured in the Italian film L’avventura where the characters are on a motor boat looking for somewhere to swim. May years later it was a favourite swimming of Princess Di and there is a cross commemorating her on the top of the cliffs.

Vegetation clings to the rocky slopes

Stromboli in the distance between these two big rocks

The white smudge is pumice

Stromboli as we approached had a diaphanous vale of smoke hugging the sides of the mountain.

The magnificent Mt Stromboli, the crest of which is almost 1000m above sea level and over 2,700m above the sea floor has been erupting almost continuous for the past 2,000 years. The most recent major eruption was on 13 April 2009, but there is a pattern of eruptions/explosions at the summit craters (there are 3) at intervals ranging from minutes to hours. Volcanic activity in the area is monitored by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania which, if it is predictive, is a good thing for the small number of residents of the island.

Enticing little puffs of smoke as we looked to the summit.

Sweeping black sandy beaches of Stromboli

We landed on Stromboli and climbed up through more winding alleyways to the Church of San Vincenz set on a terrace overlooking the sea. Quite lovely. Many places we saw were decorated with pinecones. It seems that throughout history, pinecones have been a symbol of human enlightenment, spirituality, resurrection, eternal life and regeneration. Conifers are special as they are some of the oldest forms of plant life on earth. We saw huge representations of pinecones in the Vatican a very long time ago and wondered - now we know. Here they give people pinecones to hang above their front door as a wish for health and good luck to the family who lives there.  

Then we descended those crazy winding streets for a lazy simple dinner of island hamburgers before boarding the boat to head northeast to the rocky tor of Strombilicchio only to turn back in order to view Mt Stromboli, fiery giant, put on a display of roman candles in the darkening sky. We could have lingered much longer but were happy! 

The lighthouse on the summit of Strombilicchio reached by a concrete stairway of over 200 steps

Strombolicchio, 2km northeast of Stromboli, is a volcanic plug, now a sea stack. It is the remnant of the original volcano which formed the island of Stromboli. Eruptions at this location ceased approximately 200,000 years ago, but Stromboli remains volcanically activity. Strombolicchio hosts some very rare species of flora and fauna and has been declared a natural reserve. It is home to an endangered flower at risk of extinction, and a rare lizard which is found at only three other locations, all of which are in the Aeolian Islands has been classified as at critical risk of extinction.