On our journey through Naples to Stromboli in 1986, we first became acquainted with volcanism and with two powerful Italian volcanoes: Vesuvius and Stromboli. While we received moving impressions of the violence and impact of volcanic eruptions from the past when we visited Pompeii, the active Stromboli immediately allowed us to look into his Hellmouth. But before that, the ascent from the coast, where we had moved quarters, to the crater rim was overcome. It was not a walk to negotiate nearly 1,000 vertical meters over lava fields and high temperatures, and it took us well over 5 hours to finally see the bubbling magma columns from the crater rim at dusk.
But not only the visual experience was impressive. The magma fountains were accompanied by a rhythmic, swelling, thundering rumble that initially taught one to fear, before getting used to (something). Small glowing boulders thrown out continuously from the gullet and at the latest now it became apparent why Jules Verne, in his novel, The Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1864, had his protagonists catapulted back to the earth's surface through this crater.
After some time of amazement, the rising wind on the edge of the crater blew the fine lava dust into our faces, so that the earned snack time became a crunching experience. The nocturnal descent was another experience - three hours without a flashlight and trail running shoes downhill - so even then went without high-tech equipment :-)
A few more facts: Stromboli, with its small area of 12.6 square kilometers, is located in the Mediterranean and consists essentially of an active stratovolcano of the same name. Stromboli belongs with its neighboring islands Lipari, Salina, Vulcano, Panarea, Filicudi and Alicudi to the archipelago of the Aeolian or Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The island has a population of just over 550 people, most of whom live in the village of Stromboli (the merger of Scari, San Vincenzo, Ficogrande, Piscità and San Bartolomeo) to the northeast. Only 30 people live in Ginostra in the southwest.
There are regular ferries from Naples to Stromboli, but the dangerous ascent of the volcano is often prohibited, so you should get this information before a relevant trip.
