The islanders do not use its name: they say Iddu, «Him». The volcano explodes at intervals of minutes to hours, almost without a break for at least two thousand years; that is why sailors called it the lighthouse of the Mediterranean. The Sciara del Fuoco is the black wound running from the crater to the sea on the north-western flank, a horseshoe opened by collapses over the last 13,000 years: this is where the incandescent blocks roll into the water, and where the lava goes when activity picks up.
What to see
There are three places to watch the Sciara from. From the sea, on the boats that stop offshore at dusk and cut their engines. From the Osservatorio path, barely an hour on foot from the village on the western side, the natural balcony over the flow. And from above, when the local orders allow it: the summit stands at 926 metres and the island above water is only the upper third of the volcano, all the rest going down under the Tyrrhenian. A little to the north-east rises Strombolicchio, the solidified vent of the original volcano, about 200,000 years old, with an automated navy lighthouse on top.
The village is a ribbon of white houses through Scari, San Vincenzo, Ficogrande and Piscità: lanes passable only by three-wheelers and electric scooters and, at night, no street lighting at all, because the comune of Lipari chose not to install any. You walk with a torch and you see the Milky Way. On the other side of the island, reachable only by sea, Ginostra counts thirty or forty inhabitants in winter and about ten mules, still the means of transport. In 1891 some 2,700 people lived on Stromboli: then the vine blight of the thirties killed the vineyards, the eruptions did the rest and the island emptied. Roberto Rossellini put it back on the map when he shot Stromboli, Land of God here in 1950 with Ingrid Bergman; Jules Verne had already ended Journey to the Centre of the Earth here, in 1864.
Visiting
You come by ferry or hydrofoil from Milazzo, Messina, Naples and Lipari, in summer also from Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia and Tropea; in rough seas the crossings are cancelled, so do not plan your return for the last minute. Cars are neither needed nor allowed. The climb to the crater is made only with authorised guides: excursions used to go above 900 metres, but after the paroxysms of 2019, when an explosion killed a hiker, and after the fire of 2022 the permitted heights change with each ordinance and must be checked before you set out. For the rest, two days are enough: one for the village and the black beaches, one for the volcano.
Our editors' tip
If the crater is closed we do not feel cheated: we take the evening boat trip, the one that stops in front of the Sciara once it is properly dark, because from there you see the whole explosion, from the flash to the thud of the blocks in the water. We bring a head torch for the lanes on the way back and real shoes for the stony Osservatorio path. And one serious note: the 2002 eruption set off a tsunami, and in 2022 a flash flood caused tens of millions of euros of damage, so you read the escape-route signs the way you read the emergency exit on a plane.
