Isole Eolie - Stromboli
The slopes of Stromboli rise sleekly out of the sea and stand out sharply against a sapphire-blue sky. Its eastern slopes are covered with a carpet of greenery and dotted with typical white houses. Those which lie along the jet-black beaches or near lava rocks offer some marvellously colourful contrasts. Other houses are huddled around the churches or hidden among the centuries-old olive groves, while others cling to the rugged slopes of the mountain; they are for the most part on high points and at one time offered refuge to inhabitants during Saracen pirate raids.
All around the village there are long rows of prickly pear trees, which often mark property boundaries. The caper trees that are to be found on rock tops or clinging to walls take the form of lush green umbrellas that are brightly decorated with white flowers in the summer. In springtime, the dense olive groves and vineyards, which are occasionally broken by rows of wisteria, briars and gorse, offer a truly enchanting spectacle. This idyllic scenery is completed by the song of the cicadas in the scorching sun and the heady scent of the blossom. By contrast, the northern side is bare, rugged and gloomy and has often been the theatre of apocalyptic events. The island rises from a depth of between 1100 and 1200 metres, so the absolute height of the cone is actually between 2026 and 2126 metres. Its summit, Serra Vancori (926 metres above sea level), is what remains of an ancient volcanic crater composed of andesite lava. The present actice crater lies more than 200 metres below and is limited to the east and west by towers and two crests composed of lava banks, conglomerates and dikes: the eastern one is called Filo del Fuoco and the western one Filo di Baraona. The island’s four morphological units are the ancient volcano layer (Paleostromboli) of Serra Vancori to the south, the summit (918 m.) five hundred metres to the north of this, the current crater with five active mouths, which is situated 300 metres north (Neostromboli) of the summit and the neck of Strombolicchio, which is a casually formed cone.
The number of erupting mouths in the crater varies continually. When active, they throw out lava and burning débris and there are more o less violent explosions, vapour emissions and lava flows. The various mouths are often active in the same time in different forms, but the activity of the volcano itself consists of spurting débris that is a spectacular sight to see, especially at night. This moderate activity is sometimes broken by brief but violent explosive phases that can end with effusions of magma running down the slope of Sciara del Fuoco. The most notable eruptions took place in 1891, 1907, 1915, 1919, 1930 (one of the most disastrous), 1936, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959 and 1966. An interesting eruption occurred on 28 Febrauary 1955: there was a marked lateral flow on Sciara del Fuoco that appeared to be at sea level or slightly lower. The lava flows do not present any danger for the island’s inhabitants because they flow down Sciara del Fuoco and cannot deviate into other areas due to the dikes that enclose it. Many writes in the past believed that Stromboli had never emitted lava flows and described it as an exclusively explosive volcano; indeed, the term “Strombolian” is used by volcanologists to describe precisely that kind of activity. However, recorded effusions shows that this volcano is not exclusively explosive, for it has issued lava flows that can sometimes last for quite a long time. If you begin the tour of the island from the vast Lido di Scari, you will have a view of Punta Lena, where the white houses surrounded by tall palm trees give the area an Arabian appearance. In the centre there is an old building with a high chimney the only one to be seen on the island. As you go northwards, past Punta Lena, you pass a beach with a tufa rock face behind it. Just after this comes the island’s main beach of Ficogrande, which is the arrival point of the ships that connect Stromboli with Sicily and the mainland region of Campania. Up until the First World War, this beach, like the one at Scari, hosted the large sailing ships that made the merchant fleet at Stromboli the largest in the Aeolian Islands.
As you continue your tour, you will see the high rock faces that protrude well out into the sea. Just after this point you will have a breathtaking view of Sciara del Fuoco, a wide, steep slope scarred with torrents of lava that flow down to the sea and enormous fiery boulders that roll down-valley amid dense clouds of steam and ash. At the top (700 m.), you will see the eruptive centre, which is deeply embedded among gigantic dikes and impressive masses of volcanic conglomerate that are often covered with mist and struck by the scalding matter hurled out of the volcanic mouths. The spectacle of this activity is particularly interesting at night, when the flows look like fantastic streams of fire. A promontory to the north-west separates Sciara del Fuoco from the village of Ginostra, which lies in a vast natural amphitheatre and has houses built on rocky areas bordered with agaves or huddled among prickly pears and olive trees. You reach the village by way of the landing areas of Lazzaro and Pertuso, which is the most important of the two. A Capo Graziano settlement ( nineteenth-fifteenth century BC) has been discovered on Timpone di Ginostra. After Ginostra come a number of rock slopes alternating with heaps of tumbled stones and deep sandy channels that run down from the summit of the mountain to the sea. This grandiose but wild and arid scenery contrasts with the nearby flat area called Lena. Among the greenery and the gorse, prickly pears and olive trees, you will get a glimpse of some tiny cube-shaped houses.
Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the inhabited part of Stromboli extended as far as the sea, along the beaches of Scari, Ficogrande and the cliff of Piscità. Today, the central area is further inland and its houses are mostly quite low and simple but quite pretty. There is a stark contrast between the modest houses and the bell towers and cupolas of the churches of San Vincenzo Ferreri and San Bartolomeo, which are both designed with a nave and two aisles. In the square dominated by the church of San Vincenzo Ferreri, there was until a few years ago a colossal wooden cross standing on a brick plinth. It was erected on 22 August 1902 by some French noblemen who visited the island on their pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This visit became an annual tradition and most of the pilgrims went on the interesting excursion to the crater area and the summit of the mountain, which have always been Stromboli’s major attractions. In 1975, during excavation of the coastal road connecting the harbour of Ficogrande with Scari, a Greek burial ground was discovered with tombs dating from the late fourth and early third centuries BC. Among the considerable amount of materials that were found, there were some very fine burial vases and terracotta pieces showing figures from Menander’s comedies.
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