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Story by Barbara Penny Angelakis
The Aeolian Islands. With supreme Aeolian pride and typical Italian laissez faire sensibility, one could not help but be charmed by the delightful manner in which the following line was enthusiastically delivered when we arrived at Capofaro Malvasia & Resort (Cape Lighthouse) “we have a lighthouse, but its not working”. That is how we were greeted at our midnight check-in at the lovely Capofaro boutique hotel on the Aeolian Island of Salina. www We were here for the very first time to explore the “Y” shaped grouping of volcanic islands off the northeast coast of Sicily. We flew directly from New York City to Palermo, Sicily, on Eurofly. Eurofly also schedules direct flights from JFK to Naples and Rome. The Aeolian Islands or Isole Eolie are located in the Tyrrhenian Sea between Sicily and the mainland of Italy. Their birth from the fiery bowels of Vulcan, God of Fire, is still evident in the relentlessly erupting displays from the cone-shaped most eastern island of Stromboli. By day a puff of smoke, by night a brilliant pyrotechnic pronouncement shooting red, orange and yellow blasts into the starry night. A boat ride from Salina to Stromboli in the afternoon and a thrilling ride up the twisting steep alleyways of the village in little more than a golf cart - no larger vehicle could traverse the path - to the top of the lower crater for a magnificent view over the clustered The seven Aeolian Islands are in fact blessed by the Gods. Mythology recounts that it was Vulcan (Hephaestus), who with his lovely wife Venus (Aphrodite) created these fertile islands with the cooperation of the Sea God Neptune (Poseidon) and Aeolus God of the Winds. The islands were born of fire and sculptured by water and wind into fantastic shapes. According to Homer’s archetypal hero Ulysses(Odysseus), he and his crew were delayed on their return home from the Trojan War by the Mistral winds coming off the Aeolies, the very islands we were now visiting. Odysseus may have been the first Greek to visit the Aeolies but Greece dominated the islands as early as 575BCE and left a lasting impact on its culture. Modern day adventurers - and mere mortals alike - can listen and still be captivated by the siren call of these magical and spellbinding specs of land in a blue, blue sea just as many succeeding cultures i.e. the Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish, were. They all left their mark and account for the diverse nature of the people and their unique artistic point of view.
We began our journey through the Aeolies, in the largest island of Lipari. The main town, also called Lipari, is a charming maze of streets crowded with delightful shops, delicious restaurants and small, mostly family owned hotels in the 3- and 4- star category. There is also the beautifully appointed 5-star Hotel Tritone that is in a lovely setting, and offers all the courtesies expected from a luxury hotel. www.bernardigroup.it But as I have commented several times in the past, the number of stars awarded to a hotel is arbitrary and should only be used as a guideline. Some of the 3-star properties we encountered in the islands would quality for a much higher rating in other locales and some of the 5-stars were disappointingly predictable. On Lipari we stayed at the hospitable Giardino Sul Mare Hotel with a lovely terrace overlooking the sea. www.giardinosulmare.it After dinner we were treated to a spirited folkloric show filled with song, dance, and laughter, and delivered with great enthusiasm. The next day we took a bus tour of the island and were awed by the lunar landscape on the inactive volcanic crater of Monte Pelato with its distinct flows of black obsidian and white pumice. Obsidian - a black volcanic glass coveted by Neolithic peoples for tool-making before the discovery of the smelting of metals - and pumice - a spongy whitish rock valuable as a polishing material - are chemically the identical material, differing only by the temperature reduction in the magma’s final phase of erupting. But for me, the highlight of Lipari was a visit to the Castello, the acropolis dominating the island and its surrounding territory. The ancient town built there had an imposing view over its environs and the steep rock face Enchanting also are the tiny figurines that are thought to have been children’s toys, there was even one with movable arms and legs not Next stop Panarea, the smallest, and to me the prettiest, of the islands. The horseshoe
Each island in the group of seven has its own vibration and unique attractions but all the islands have many things in common… the warm, For information on the Aeolian Islands visit the Italian Government Tourist Board at www.italiantourism.com
© July 2009 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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islands, eventually took us to the 4-star La Sirenetta Park Hotel located right at the waters edge on the black sand beach at Ficogrande. 
The captain shut the engine and lights allowing the boat to bob gently on the calm sea so the passengers could oh and ah at the eruptions coming from the island we had just left. They illuminated the sky and then cast their sparkling plumes down the crater in glittering red-hot rivulets. In the short 20-minute time span that the boat was silent on the sea, there was little conversation from our usual high-spirited companions as we all held our breath in anticipation of the next brilliant eruption. Every few minutes a fiery explosion lit-up the sky to the appreciative squeals of us tiny mortals watching Vulcan flex his mighty muscles. 
The twin peaked island of Salina, population 2000, is an island whose UNESCO Heritage status will insure its survival in its present form, without the unlimited growth that has shattered the tranquility of so many other Mediterranean Islands. In fact all seven Aeolian Islands are considered a national treasure and thanks to UNESCO they will remain so for generations to come. Salina – named for its salt mines but in ancient times known as Didyme for the twin peaks that identify the island – resonates with friendliness and good humor. Salina is purported to have the best granita in the islands at the Alfredo Granite Bar and to make sure, we each tasted several flavors of the homemade treat.
Pastel colored, or whitewashed stucco houses with Mediterranean blue trim, offer a stark contrast to the lush green foliage that covers the hills and valleys. Every form of vegetation is present and because our visit was at the tail end of May we were treated to a great profusion of wild flowering trees and bushes with flowers spreading out over the fields in an abundance of every imaginable color in very variation of shading; pink, coral, purple, yellow, red, white, with wild patches of fennel, oregano, caper fruit, rosemary, heather, thyme… the fragrance in the air could only be characterized as delicious. Cactus next to cypress trees at the edge of an olive or chestnut tree grove, and grape vines lined up with the deep blue sapphire sea as a backdrop for vineyards, is as startling as it is spectacular. 
created a natural fortification against marauders… the only access, a climb up steps hewn into the rock face. A succession of occupying civilizations enlarged and further fortified the Castello and built the Cathedral of San Bartolomeo, patron-saint of Lipari. The Archaeological Museum is housed in several buildings by the old Bishop’s Palace, next to the Cathedral. It is one of the foremost archaeological museums in the Mediterranean. Because the Castello, and the fertile high plateau just below, was home to every immigration wave from the Neolithic up to the Historical Period, happily for us, their activities have been chronicled in the deposits of fine volcanic ash that blanketed the area in stratified layers. Fascinating artifacts have been unearthed that exist nowhere else. The sheer quantity and quality of the collection is astonishing with pottery and artifacts dating to the earliest settlements in the Mediterranean basin. Notable are the many small clay masks that are so numerous and repetitious - fashioned to represent protagonists of known Greek plays - that they are thought to have been used as entrance passes to theatrical performances. Attendance was mandatory as the plays were an early form of mass education and socialization during the classical period. 
unlike modern-day dolls. But the most curious items were the Cult of Dionysus funerary/marriage jars painted in pastel colors instead of the red on black or black on red that the Greeks popularized. The colors are sourced from Kaolin, a volcanic fine clay that takes on a variety of colors such as blue, aqua, salmon, red, and white depending on what impurities are contained in the clay. The allegorical scene depicted is a young woman being prepared for marriage to the God of the afterlife and attended by angels with large spread wings. The eggs that top her wedding cake insure fertility and the cakes prominence suggests that her next life will be sweet as well as fertile. 
harbor is lined with small boutique shops and restaurants and stone benches from which to watch the fishing boats come in. From the harbor, clean narrow streets wind their way up the mountain. Clinging to its rocky surface are small family owned hotels and private homes painted pastel colors or whitewashed with the ubiquitous blue Mediterranean trim. Cars and streetlights are prohibited, and golf carts are your only relief from the steep climb; 
flashlights are your only source of light once sun sets. The hotels that we passed or stopped at for refreshments were of traditional island architecture and decorated with luscious tile floors and walls. The furnishings were sparse but each piece was either hand made and accessorized with exotic fabrics and rugs, or island antiques from the many cultures that had settled here. And, of course, they all oozed Aeolian Island hospitality. Three hotels stand out; Hotel Lisca Bianca 
We also visited the island of Vulcano with its thermal bath resort Geoterme Vulcano. Here you can bathe in mineral waters bubbling up from the resting - but not yet dead - volcano and hot sulfur mud baths that are alleged to leave your skin silky smooth… if you can tolerate the smell. The least developed Aeolian Islands of Alicudi and Filicudi we visited but only briefly, which will give us a good reason to return. 
welcoming and friendly people. They all also have striking vistas, hills, and valleys covered by wild flowers, black sand beaches, and sapphire blue waters, astounding rock formations and underwater seabeds rich in coral and teaming with fish. A word regarding the food in the islands; scrumptious! Ingredients were always the freshest locally available from the sea or fields, and harvested shortly before preparation. The various ways in which each restaurant presented its bounty was limited only by the imagination of the chef but mostly the preparations were handed down from generations of finely honed recipes. Impossible to describe each meal from the many outstanding ones we enjoyed because they were all different, all mouthwatering, and all delicious.