Best areas to stay in the Aeolian Islands

Are you going to Sicily for the summer holidays 2019? Why don’t you go from one island to another? Here is where to stay on the Aeolian Islands!

The Aeolian Islands – Isole Eolie in Italian and also called “Lipari Islands” – are an archipelago of volcanic origin located in the north of Sicily, in the Tyrrhenian Sea and belong to the Italian State. The archipelago consists of 17 islands, islets and rocks.

7 islands are inhabited and only 3 of them are accessible to motorists. The famous Vulcano and Stromboli islands – which are active volcanoes – are also located in the Aeolian Islands. They have a population of 14,016 inhabitants, spread over the following 7 islands: Lipari, Salina, Vulcano, Stromboli, Panarea, Filicudi and Alicudi.

Occupied by the Greeks as early as 580 BC, the Aeolian Islands were subject to several legends, including the legend that the god Aeolus – master of the winds in Greek mythology – colonized the archipelago during the Trojan War. A high observation site for volcanology and geology, the Aeolian Islands archipelago has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 2000, and are visited by more than 200,000 visitors each year.

Would you like to visit the Aeolian Islands? Isn’t it classy and unusual to sleep on the slopes of an active volcano? Here are the places to stay in Lipari, Stromboli, Vulcano and Salina!

Also read :
The 10 best things to do in the Aeolian Islands
The 17 best things to do in Sicily

Lipari

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Diego Fiore

The main island of the archipelago, Lipari has 16,000 permanent inhabitants and is administratively dependent on the province of Messina in Sicily. Occupied since the Neolithic period, it is the largest of the 7 islands. We advise you to choose to sleep in Lipari if you wish to enjoy the social activity of the “capital” or discover the obsidian and pumice stone quarries.

It is revealed as soon as it arrived at the port by its acropolis, dominated by the cathedral of Saint-Bartolomé, built by the Normans in the Middle Ages. The cathedral dell’Addolorata – of medieval times – sits on the port and the city and is built in baroque style. The Aeolian Archaeological Museum is a must-see in the city. It houses one of the largest archaeological collections in Italy, and traces the history of the Aeolian Islands from prehistoric to Roman times.

Via Garibaldi, in the Marina Corta district, is the main shopping street, with many shops, souvenir shops, restaurants, bars and cafés. Don’t miss the beaches of Porticello, Canneto and Acquacalda: they are beautiful! The coast of Lipari is worth seeing, especially the Roman baths of S. Calogero, which are the oldest baths in the world.

Salina

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Salina is the second largest volcanic island in the archipelago. The homonymous city reflects the quintessence of Italy, notably through its bright colors, village houses, churches and ancient palaces decorated with yellows, ochers, pinks and oranges. The streets are dotted with bougainvilleas, jasmines and lemon trees. In the countryside, vineyards and orchards are cultivated.

The island’s specialty is the manufacture of ceramic tiles. To sleep in Salina, choose the village of Malfa, in the north. It has a number of hotels near the sea and is the area where capers and the famous Malvasia wine are produced.

You can also hike on the slopes of the island’s two extinct volcanoes: the Fossa delle Felci (at an altitude of 961 metres) and Monte dei Porri, which rises to 860 metres. To sleep in Salina in peace and quiet, choose Leni, inland and in a paradise of greenery.

Vulcano and Stromboli

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / A Periam Photography

If you decide to climb the homonymous volcano, you will logically sleep in Vulcano, “the island of demons”. The port smells like rotten eggs due to the sulphur exhaled by the volcano and the island is nothing more than a lunar and desert landscape, bordered by black sand beaches. You can go around the crater and then go swimming at Sabbie Nere beach in Vulcano Porto.

Two ports provide an anchor point on Stromboli, the most easterly island of the archipelago. The island is home to the famous explosive volcano Stromboli, which is one of the most active in Europe. After climbing the volcano, relax on the beaches, especially in Ficogrande, Forgia Vecchia, Spiaggia Lunga or Scari.