The Aeolian Islands ( ; ; ), sometimes referred to as the Lipari Islands or Lipari group ( , ) after Lipari, are a volcanic island archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, said to be named after Aeolus, the mythical ruler of the winds.
There are seven significant islands: Lipari, Vulcano, Salina Island, Stromboli, Filicudi, Alicudi and Panarea, and a set of minor islands and rocks.
Geography
The Aeolian Islands are off the north coast of Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Vulcano is located closest to the Sicilian coast. Lipari and Salina follow to the north, Filicudi and Alicudi to the west, and Panarea and Stromboli to the northeast. In addition to these seven inhabited islands, there are a number of smaller, uninhabited islands and rocky cliffs, such as
Basiluzzo,
Strombolicchio, and .
The largest island is Lipari (), followed by Salina (), Vulcano (), Stromboli (), Filicudi () and Alicudi (). The smallest island, at , is Panarea. The highest elevation of the Lipari Islands is on Salina, which reaches a height of .[Eolian Islands, in: Earth's Landscape: An Encyclopedia of the World's Geographic Features, 2015, ]
Geology
The seven Aeolian Islands, covering an area of , originated in the
Tyrrhenian Basin, a great plain at the bottom of the
Tyrrhenian Sea. Emissions of lava from depths of up to resulted in the formation of the Aeolian Islands, together with
Ustica and a series of submarine volcanoes named Magnani, Vavilov,
Marsili and Palinuro, as well as two that are unnamed.
The present shape of the Aeolian Islands is the result of volcanic activity over a period of 260,000 years. There are two active volcanoes – Stromboli and Vulcano.
Geologically the archipelago is defined as a volcanic arc.
Image:Aerial image of Lipari (view from the southwest).jpg|
Image:Aerial image of Panarea (view from the southeast).jpg|
Image:Aerial image of Filicudi (view from the south).jpg|Filicudi
Image:Aerial image of Alicudi (view from the south).jpg|Alicudi
Image:Aerial image of Salina (view from the southwest).jpg|
Image:Aerial image of Vulcano (view from the east).jpg|Vulcano
Image:Aerial image of Stromboli (view from the northeast).jpg|
Administration
The islands form part of the Sicilian Metropolitan City of Messina. All the islands except Salina comprise the
comune of
Lipari within that province; Salina forms three separate
comunes:
Malfa, Leni and Santa Marina Salina.
Architectural control
Curbing urban development has been a key in preserving the Aeolian islands in a natural state. New buildings are severely restricted. Existing residences can be bought and restored but they must be constructed to resemble its whitewashed houses. Traditional houses consist of modular cubes
constructed from indigenous building materials like stone, lava, pumice, and tufo. Almost all houses have a huge outdoor terrace, usually shaded by grape and flowering vines.
Mythology
In
Homer's epic poem, the
Odyssey, Aeolus, son of
Hippotes, was the divine keeper of the winds and king of the mythical, floating island of Aeolia. He kept the violent winds locked safely away inside the interior of his isle, releasing them only at the command of greatest gods to wreak devastation upon the world.
[ Sources about Aiolos Retrieved 25 March 2022.]
The hero of the epic poem, Odysseus, on his travels to return home from Troy, visited Aeolus' isle and was entrusted with a bag containing all of the winds to ensure a safe voyage home. However, during the trip, the hero's companions opened the bag and the escaping winds carried their ship all the way back to Aeolus' shore.[Homer, Odyssey 10.1–12 ]
History
4000–2500 BC
The first evidence of Sicilian migration was in Lipari ().
[Luigi Bernabò Brea, Madeleine Cavalier (Eds.). (1980). Meligunìs Lipára IV. L’acropoli di Lipari nella preistoria. Palermo: Flaccovio.] The manufacture and commerce of
obsidian objects was highly developed until the introduction of
.
[Martinelli, Maria & Vianello, Andrea. (2019). Lipari (Aeolian Islands) Obsidian in the Late Neolithic. Artifacts, Supply and Function. Open Archaeology. 5. 46-64. 10.1515/opar-2019-0005.]
1600–1250 BC
During the
Bronze Age, the Aeolians prospered by means of maritime commerce in an area which extended from
Mycenae to the
British Isles, from where tin was imported. Villages on the Aeolian islands flourished on Capo Graziano (Filicudi), Castello (Lipari), Serro dei Cianfi (Salina), Capo Milazzese (Panarea), and Portella (Salina). All these settlements were destroyed by new
Italic people invasions in 1250 BC.
[ Sicily Before the Greeks. The Interaction with Aegean and the Levant in the Pre-colonial Era Retrieved 25 March 2022.]
1240–850 BC
According to
Diodorus Siculus, the Aeolian Islands were occupied by the
Ausones led by Liparus.
[Bibliotheca historica, book V.] Liparus was succeeded by Aeolus whose house, according to the
Odyssey by
Homer, gave hospitality to
Odysseus.
600–300 BC
In 580 BC,
Greeks exiled from
Rhodes and
Knidos landed at Lipari and began a period of
Magna Graecia, which was known for acts of piracy against Etruscan and
shipping. There was production of
and other
.
[ Brief history of the Aeolian Islands Retrieved 25 March 2022.]
300 BC–AD 250
The islanders were allies of the
Ancient Carthage against
Roman Republic during the
Punic Wars. Although the Battle of the Lipari Islands in 260 BC led to a Carthaginian victory, the Romans later sacked Lipari and their domination led to a period of poverty.
AD 250–1000
At the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Aeolian Islands came under the sway of the
Visigoths, the
Vandals and the
Ostrogoths, followed by the domination of the
Byzantine Empire. According to a Christian legend, in 264 a coffin which contained the body of Bartholomew washed up on the beach of Lipari, with the result that Bartholomew was immediately elected the
patron saint of the Aeolian Islands. In 836 the
Aghlabids of Ziyadat Allah I of Ifriqiya sacked Lipari, massacred most of the population, enslaved the survivors and annexed the Liparian Islands into the Emirate of Sicily.
1000–1600
The Norman conquest of Sicily from the Emirate of Sicily in 1061 resulted in the annexation of the islands. Roger II of Sicily sent the Benedictine monks to
Lipari, which gave rise to considerable development on the islands. A cathedral dedicated to Saint Bartholomew was built, as well as the Benedictine monastery in the castle. In 1208 Frederick II of
Swabia acceded to the throne of the Kingdom of Sicily. The period of prosperity which followed, ended with the domination of the
Angevin Empire and the rebellion of the Sicilians which culminated in the revolt of the
Sicilian Vespers. The Aeolians however, remained loyal to Charles of Anjou, and commercial links were established with
Naples, the capital of the Angevin kingdom. In 1337
Lipari opened its gates to the French fleet without resistance, and in return obtained various commercial and fiscal benefits.
In the mid-15th century, Naples and
Palermo united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies under the crown of Alfonso V of Aragon.
On June 30, 1544, a fleet of 180 Ottoman Empire vessels under the command of the Barbary pirates Hayreddin Barbarossa occupied Lipari and laid siege to the castle. The defenders surrendered. Historically, it is said around 9,000 of the 10,000 citizens of Lipari were captured and enslaved although a couple of more recent scholars have questioned this number arguing for a lower population at the time of Barbarossa.
1600–present
In 1693, an earthquake destroyed all the towns in eastern Sicily, causing around 60,000 deaths.
[, Juan Francisco Pacheco y Téllez-Girón, 4th Consort Duke of Uceda the Spanish Viceroy of Sicily at the time reported "...and about sixty thousand people died under the ruins of the earthquake" (August 4, 1695)] After the population invoked the protection of Saint Bartholomew during prayers in the
cathedral, there was not a single victim on the Aeolian Islands. The economic conditions of the islands improved greatly during the 17th century with agricultural progress (
malvasia grapes),
, and a variety of fruit, vegetables and fishing). With the Bourbons came the introduction of criminal and political prisoners to the islands. In 1916, the penal colony was closed, but the
Italian Fascism unsuccessfully tried to reopen it in 1926. The island population reacted by pulling down the remains of the ex-penitentiary in the castle. However, not long after, the castle was converted to accommodate anti-Fascist political prisoners in enforced exile. Liparians fraternised with these exiles until the Allies' liberation. After the war, the same room that had housed the opponents of Fascism became the .
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Aeolian Islands were visited by Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria—a friend of the islands and also a man with a profound knowledge of the archipelago. Between the years 1893–96 he published a work of eight volumes on the Aeolian Islands.
In August 1888, the crater named Fossa on Vulcano erupted and caused many deaths in the sulfur mining. The eruptions continued for 19 months.
On New Year's Day in 1909, a rumour appeared in international newspapers that the Aeolian Islands had been "swallowed up by the sea" during a time of volcanic activity.[ "Aeolian Islands Not Sunk" Atchison Daily Champion (1 January 1909): 1. via Newspapers.com] While communication with the islands was interrupted for a time,[ "Aeolian Islands Isolated" Dakota Huronite (14 January 1909): 7. via Newspapers.com] they were not otherwise inconvenienced.
During World War II, all of the Aeolian Islands were captured by the Allies in August 1943, during the invasion of Sicily.[ "Foggia Blasted; Aeolian Isles Seized" Kingsport News (21 August 1943): 1. via Newspapers.com] The islands were then extensively searched by Archaeology Madeleine Cavalier and Luigi Bernabò Brea after World War II.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
The Aeolian Islands were listed by
UNESCO in 2000 as a World Heritage Site for providing "an outstanding record of volcanic island-building and destruction, and ongoing volcanic phenomena".
Status as a World Heritage Site was threatened by Italy's failure to close the pumice quarry as well as its failure to prevent the building of 4 new harbours.
[ Eddyburg.it – Le Eolie fuori dai siti Unesco ] However, , it is still listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.
See also
Further reading
-
Ward, Phillip (1974). The Aeolian Islands. The Oleander Press.
-
Berlinghieri, Castagnino E.F. (with introduction by A. J. Parker) (2003) The Aeolian Islands: crossroads of Mediterranean maritime routes. A survey on their maritime archaeology and topography from the Prehistoric to the Roman periods, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1181, Oxford.
External links
