Stromboli .... fire and passion

August 28, 2014

With sadness we left Panarea heading for Stromboli.

Stromboli is a extremely active volcano which erupts roughly every 20 minutes.

Sciara del Fuoco

As our boat approached, the cone which thrusts out of the sea became larger and larger and we could see the smoke bellowing out of its main crater.

The boat docked at Stromboli Town, it was similar to Panarea with typical Aeolian houses, Dolce and Gabbana have a home here. We disembarked and started to explore.

Stromboli Town is very small and like Panarea has no cars except electric buggies.

The main attraction is the house where Ingrid Bergman lived in 1949 whilst filming Stromboli, Terra di Dio. The director Roberto Rossellini fell in love with her here and they started a passionate affair. Some say that without the scandal during the filming, the film would have sunk into insignificance.

Ingrid Bergman's House

The big business on Stromboli is climbing the volcano, you can climb freely along the trails up to 400 metres after that you need to be accompanied by a licensed guide. Most excursions leave late afternoon to take advantage of the sunset and dusk when the eruptions are more visible. You must be in extremely good health to attempt climbing.

After visiting Ingrid Bergman’s house we made our way back to the main piazza and enjoyed pistachio gelato whilst overlooking the beautiful church of San Vincenzo, watching all the tourists renting their hiking boots whilst being briefed by their guides. The hikes start in the piazza.

My husband decided that it would not be a good idea to join in, especially after witnessing the amount of times I fell over on our first trip to Mount Etna, it took both him and my friend to keep me stable.

After our delicious gelato (Sicilian pistachios really are the best) we headed back to the dock to board our boat ready for a dusk time dinner whilst anchored off Sciara del Fuoco, the blackened lava scar that runs down the northern flank of the island.

Piazza San Vincenzo

We enjoyed an Aeolian dinner of Maccheroni with Tuna, Tomatoes, Olives and Capers, of course all washed down with a fine Sicilian white wine with fresh fruit for dessert.

After dinner we moved up to the top deck where we watched the volcano erupting, bright orange and red flashes in the Sicilian night sky. Visitors this summer have been treated to an amazing show, the eruptions have been so intense that the lava has been trickling down the Sciara del Fuoco reaching the sea deep below causing it to steam and bubble.

Eventually it was time to leave Stromboli and head home, so we set sail underneath the stars back to Milazzo to meet our driver.

We slept all the way home.