Stromboli
The bewitching
When you step off the boat, all you’ll see is a thin strip of grainy black sand and a few lonely old fishing boats basking in the bright, clear sunshine, the inky Tyrrhenian Sea lapping solemnly at the shore.
But you didn’t come to Stromboli, a small aeolian island off the coast of Sicily, for the beach anyway, did you?
You came for the volcano, which rises like a god above your head with a ghostly plume encircling its crown. The imperious volcano, made famous by Antonio Rossellini’s sublime film “Stromboli, Terra di Dio” starring Ingrid Bergman, erects an almost perfect cone over the water. A basalt monster that has been coughing and screaming for 2,500 years. Its lava explosions enthralled the ancients, who referred to it as the “lighthouse of the Mediterranean”. The island’s 500 inhabitants call it Iddu (He) and pay it the utmost respect.
A surreal natural firework display that attracts tourists and geologists alike, enthusiasts alike can climb it on a 4-hour hike (arduous, with a compulsory guide). Others decide to stay on a boat to observe it from afar. Others, like us, will decide not to devote any particular activity to it.
However, wherever you are on the island, it exudes a strange atmosphere and you’ll find yourself always keeping an eye on it… Although it hasn’t had a major eruption since 2009, trips to Stromboli can be imbued with a slight underlying unease, the kind that can keep some visitors up for a full night’s sleep.
“My first night on the island, I woke up to a fire behind where I was staying,” says photographer Kenny Hurtado. “My room filled with smoke and ash, and I jumped out of bed in a panic. I was getting ready to swim to Sicily. Turns out it was just dried brush that caught fire from an old boat engine. Yet in the three days Hurtado stayed, his anxiety never completely disappeared.
On the beach, you can sometimes feel the ground shaking, but this doesn’t seem to worry or bother the locals: “From the beach, there’s always an easy escape”. That’s true.
And the island has some very nice beaches, with black sand so much more elegant than blond. In the middle of a scorching July, we’re often alone in the early afternoon on these majestic stretches, which only fill up (and that’s putting it mildly…) at the end of the day. At aperitivo time, our preference is for Spiaggia Lunga, with its tiny, no-frills Capra Babba bar. With a feeling of being at the end of the world, you feel so privileged to enjoy your Spritz here.
The end of the day on Stromboli is a delight both for the taste buds, with its excellent restaurants, and for the eyes, with the magical light of the wind turbines. Not to mention the cheerfulness and joviality that pervade the island’s alleyways after the day’s sweltering heat. Stromboli’s bewitching charm is at its peak, and we don’t know a single person who hasn’t succumbed to it.
Certainly linked to the energies of the volcano, the atmosphere on this island is magnetic. Here, life is lived day by day, as if the end of the world could happen at any moment. A gentle blend of lucidity, care for one’s environment and fellow man, joie de vivre and awareness of the ephemeral emanates from here.
Disconcerting and bewildering, we can only advise you to stay on the island and not join the stream of tourists on excursions who disembark just in the late afternoon to watch the eruptions from the sea. You’ll then have the immense pleasure of being able to enjoy the island’s motto for the duration of your stay: “Mollo tutto, vivo a Stromboli”. We could have stayed for ages.
Stromboli is
5 km long by 3 km wide
Accessibility
Accommodation capacity
Animation
Where is Stromboli? In the Aeolian archipelago, made up of 7 islands to the northwest of Sicily in Italy:Alicudi, Filicudi, Vulcano, Lipari, Salina and Panarea.
How to get to Stromboli 2-hour hydrofoil crossing from Palermo or Milazzo.
How to get around the island? Walking remains the main mode of transport on the island. A few golf carts are available on the island, notably at the port on arrival.
Where to sleep and eat? Many vacation rentals available on the island. Here are a few that we’ve spotted: La Porta Rossa, Amada Mia , Ruth House, Lampara, Casa Poeti La Locanda del Barbablù is, in our opinion, the only hotel on the island with any merit. It’s very well located right in the heart of the island, totally untouched and run by adorable owners. As for restaurants, there’s an embarrassment of riches on the island. A few recos: L’angolo Del Pesce Di Riccardo Utano with its pleasant garden. Trattoria ai Gechi with its lovely view La lampara, our favorite with its gentle bohemian ambience Punta Lena, the island’s Michelin-starred gastro with pergola and exceptional view of Strombolicchio.
The book to pack in your suitcase? Le bal des cendres by Gilles Paris
The song to include in your playlist? Hypnotize U by N.E.R.D
And especially where to drink your Spritz? At Capra Babba Bar on Spiaggia Lunga
If I had known, …
I would have taken the golf cart cab when I got off the boat. It’s still a long way up to the village, especially in 40°C shade with my bag way too full… as usual.
I would have seen (or re-seen) Rossellini’s Stromboli as much for the sublime Ingrid Bergman as for the setting.
I would have taken a boat trip to see the volcano from the sea.
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