The name would come from the Greek lenós, wine press, and indeed the coat of arms carries a bunch of grapes. The other hypothesis derives it from Eléne, a personal name. Leni is on the island of Salina, in the Aeolians.
Salina has been inhabited since the fifth millennium BC; at Rinella and on Monte Fossa delle Felci obsidian was worked. Then the island emptied and was peopled again only from the sixth century BC; in the twelfth century refugees from Amalfi landed at Malfa. Salina became a comune of its own only in 1867, splitting from Lipari. There are 702 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma · Pitone messinese
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Next up: Our Lady of Terzito, patron venerated between two mountains of Salina, Friday 23 July
Nearest airport: Reggio Calabria, 90 km away
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📅 Every year, on 23 July
Leni celebrates Our Lady of Terzito on 23 July, in the 1630 sanctuary set in a hollow between Monte Fossa delle Felci and Monte dei Porri, which houses an 18th-century painting of the Virgin protecting the Aeolian Islands.
Saffron rice, ragù with peas and caciocavallo inside a golden cone-shaped crust: in Catania it is masculine and pointed, and the quarrel with Palermo over the name is serious.
Read more →A thin sheet of dough folded into a half-moon and fried, with escarole, tuma cheese, anchovies and black pepper inside: Messina’s street food, to eat hot straight from the rosticceria.
Read more →Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Leni, but an easy day trip away.
