Vulcano

Vulcano is the island that gave its name to every volcano on earth: the Romans believed it was the chimney of the fire god Vulcan's forge, and the Greeks thought Hephaestus worked here. It is the southernmost of the seven Aeolian Islands, about 20 km off Sicily and only 750 m across a strait from Lipari, and it is small — around 8 km by 4 km — with most of its few hundred residents at Vulcano Porto on the north side.

The main event is the Gran Cratere, the rim of the Fossa cone behind the port. Its last eruption, from 1888 to 1890, was studied by the geologist Giuseppe Mercalli, and the explosive, cannon-like blasts he described gave science the term "Vulcanian eruption". A marked trail climbs about 390 m to the rim, where fumaroles steam around the crater — sulphur was mined on the island from Roman times until the late 19th century; allow roughly three hours there and back, start early in summer, and bring water.

Beyond the crater, the island has the little peninsula of Vulcanello, which rose from the sea in 183 BC and was joined to the main island by a later lava flow, and quieter walking over the older cones of Monte Aria and Monte Saraceno in the south. In the 19th century the Scottish industrialist James Stevenson bought the north of the island, mined it and planted vines; his villa still stands.

Getting there

Milazzo on the Sicilian coast, about 32 km away, is the main port: Liberty Lines hydrofoils reach Vulcano in about 45 minutes, and slower Siremar and Caronte & Tourist ferries also take cars. The closest airport as the crow flies is Reggio Calabria (REG), about 70 km away on the Italian mainland. Boats continue from Vulcano to Lipari and the other Aeolian Islands.