Comparison between the islands described in 1854 by Alexsandre Dumas's book: <<Impressions de voyage >> and what we see nowadays
ALICUDI
<< It is a corner of the earth forgotten at the moment of creation and remained such since the time of chaos. No road leads to the summit or runs along its banks: some cavities furrowed by the Piavane waters are the only passages that are offered to the feet tormented by the sharp stones and the roughness of the lava.>>
House of FILICUDI
<< And yet on that corner of reddish lava live one hundred and fifty or two hundred fishermen in miserable huts, they have tried to use the rare strips of land escaped from general destruction >>.
LIPARI
Vicolo Sanna (Sanna alley) 1854
The same alley in modern days
<< Lipari is nothing but a mass of rocks and debris; the houses themselves, so far away from us, seemed a mass of badly arranged stones and on the whole island it was barely possible to distinguish two or three patches of green, which looked like fragments of sky fallen to earth >>.
Church of the Souls of Purgatory
It was built in the mid-16th century, after Barbarossa docked and destroied it. The reconstruction of the church Souls of Purgatory has been done in honor of the victims of the pirate sack.
VULCANO
<< It is impossible, even to paint it, to give an idea of this earth in convulsions, burning and almost melting. at this apparition, we did not know if our journey was in a dream and if this fantastic land would dissolve in front of us when we thought we were setting foot. >>
<< After a climb of about an hour we found ourselves on the edge of the second volcano. The shape of this immense pit was oval and at its widest point it could measure a thousand paces in length; you could go down there for an easy circular slope, ... >>
PANAREA now
It is the smallest of the islands but truly unique for its charm and beauty. The narrow streets of the island can only be traveled on foot or with a motorbike used to transport luggage. Tourists have bought and renovated the land and the old ruins, perhaps indiscriminately. The Aeolian style was characterized in ancient times by the essentiality of the lines and by the use of materials found mostly locally.
Stromboli
<< During the day the tongue of fire seemed not to exist, lost as it is in the sunlight; as soon as evening falls, as soon as the horizon begins to darken, this flame becomes visible and can be seen projecting itself in the middle of the smoke, crowning it, and then falling back into a lava flow. After just five minutes we heard a low roar, followed by an explosion, like a burst of twenty artillery shots, which lit up the sky; a long jet of fire was thrown into the air, and a shower of lava fell: part of it fell back into the crater itself, while the other, rolling down the escarpment, fell like a torrent of fire and plunged into the sea, simmering. Ten minutes later, the same phenomenon occurred again and so, at intervals of ten minutes, throughout the night >>.
THEY ARE ALL HERE WAITING FOR YOU
from April to September 2021