What to do in Vulcano

From the rim you look into a crater that genuinely smokes, sulphur-yellow fumaroles at your feet and the whole archipelago laid out to the north. You go when the traffic light says so, and you don't go alone.

The black-sand crescent of Porto di Ponente, with the Gran Cratere behind: convenient, equipped and scenic.

The island's far south — a tiny hamlet with a lighthouse: clean sea and few people even in August.

It's the question that decides the holiday, and almost nobody asks it before booking. There is no right answer for everyone: there is a right answer for what you came to do.

It isn't a town of art and it isn't a postcard. It's a base: you choose it for what you can do around it, not for the old centre. It suits some people very well and others not at all — better to know beforehand.

Four places that resemble each other only on a map. Two are destinations to see, one is a port, and one is a base. The right question isn't which is finest, but which you'd rather set out from each morning.

The definitive Italian summer song wasn't born on the Tuscan coast. It was written in Capo d'Orlando in 1963, during a month Gino Paoli hadn't planned to spend here — and which changed his mind about where he wanted to live.

In 1949 two crews filmed simultaneously in the same archipelago, over a love affair gone wrong. Then Antonioni, Troisi, Moretti and, last year, Christopher Nolan. Where they filmed, and what you can see.

In spring 2025 Christopher Nolan brought Matt Damon to Lipari, Vulcano and Basiluzzo to film the return of Odysseus. It wasn't a convenient choice: for Homer, these islands were the kingdom of Aeolus. Where he filmed, and what you can see yourself.

Seven islands, and they are not interchangeable. Choose badly and you'll end up on Alicudi looking for a restaurant, or on Panarea in August looking for silence. For each one: who it suits, how long you need, and what not to expect.

The Aeolians are the reason many people choose this coast. Day trips work — provided you pick the right island and the right timetable.

Two nights are enough for a real taste of the archipelago — if you pick one base and don't chase everything.