Home to beautiful islands and the only country on the European mainland with several active volcanoes within its borders.
Mount Etna on Sicily, the most productive volcano in Europe.
Stromboli, the lighthouse of the Mediterranean.
The spectacular scenery of the Aeolian Islands.
The Aeolian Islands in south Italy are the stuff of legends and a geological paradise. Stromboli, the ancient lighthouse of the Mediterranean, is famous for its fountain eruptions. Vulcano gave its name to the eruptive mountains we now know as volcanoes. Regular ferries from Naples or Milazzo on Sicily to Stromboli, Lipari and Vulcano make it easy to go island hopping between volcanoes on the Aeolian Islands.
Mount Etna is Europe’s most active volcano, and it’s in a constant state of excitement. There’s always something going on around the slopes of Etna. Often it’s just quietly steaming away, and you can do many beautiful hikes in the summit area. But when it erupts it can cough up large rivers of lava, fissure fountains, strombolian fireworks, fuming ash clouds and everything inbetween from its various craters.
Stromboli is the stuff of legends and the ancient lighthouse of the Mediterranean. The volcano island has been erupting its mesmerizing glow for over 2000 years, in such a way it has actually become the ‘type locality’ for it. When I saw its triangular shape looming on the horizon, it was pulling me like a force from the centre of the earth, excited to finally see the strombolian action from up close.