island
Salina
The green island — two extinct volcanoes and the archipelago's highest point: Monte Fossa delle Felci, 962 metres of forest.
- Monte Fossa delle Felci
- The bay of Pollara
- Malvasia and capers
The green island
The other Aeolians are black rock and prickly pear. Salina is the only one with water: real springs, and therefore woods. Two extinct volcanoes — Monte Fossa delle Felci (962 m, the archipelago's highest point) and Monte dei Porri — covered in ferns, chestnut and holm oak, protected by a nature reserve. From the sea it looks like the wrong island, dropped here by mistake from another latitude.
The four villages
Santa Marina is the main port and the shops. Malfa sits higher, houses scattered among vineyards. Rinella, on the south side, is a fishing hamlet with a black sand beach and the second hydrofoil landing. And Lingua, out on the point, with its salt lagoon beside the sea — the one the island is named after — and the bars where everyone stops for granita.
Capers and Malvasia
Two products that aren't souvenirs here. The Aeolian caper grows on dry-stone walls and is picked by hand before it flowers; Malvasia delle Lipari is a golden dessert wine the island's growers have made for generations. If you buy one thing in the Aeolians, make it one of these two.
Pollara, and Il Postino
On the west side, half a collapsed crater above the sea: white houses suspended over a pebble beach you walk down to. Here Massimo Troisi shot the scenes of Il Postino, his last film. The sunset from Pollara, with Filicudi and Alicudi backlit, is the most famous in the archipelago. Cinema in the Aeolians →
Trails on Salina
Beaches
- PollaraSunset
The half-crater collapsed into the sea, made famous by Il Postino: you walk down, and the sunset over Filicudi and Alicudi is the most celebrated in the Aeolians.
- RinellaFamilies
The fishing hamlet on the south coast, with its black-sand beach and hydrofoil landing: convenient and authentic.
From the guide
- Capo Calavà: the closest point to the AeoliansGuide
A path runs along the edge of a ridge above the sea to the ruins of a watchtower. From up there the Aeolians look an arm's length away — and it isn't an illusion: this is the point on the Sicilian coast closest to the islands.
- Sleep on the Aeolians, or on the coast?Guide
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.
- Is Capo d'Orlando worth it? The honest answerGuide
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.
- Capo d'Orlando, Cefalù, Taormina or Milazzo: which baseGuide
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.
- Villa Piccolo, the house of The LeopardGuide
Three siblings who might have stepped out of a novel, a poet discovered by Montale because of a postage error, and a room where Tomasi di Lampedusa wrote looking at the island that would give his prince his name. Fifteen minutes from the centre.
- The films shot in the Aeolian IslandsGuide
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.
- Illustrious guests: who has passed through Capo d'OrlandoGuide
Not a list of celebrities spotted at the bar. Here, in a villa three kilometres from the corso, Tomasi di Lampedusa wrote part of The Leopard — and on these islands Rossellini, Troisi and Moretti all shot films.
- Which Aeolian island to chooseGuide
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 Aeolian Islands in a day from Capo d'OrlandoGuide
The Aeolians are the reason many people choose this coast. Day trips work — provided you pick the right island and the right timetable.
- A weekend in the Aeolians: making it all fitGuide
Two nights are enough for a real taste of the archipelago — if you pick one base and don't chase everything.
FAQ about Salina
Why is Salina called the green island?
It's the only Aeolian with a true forest: the Natural Reserve of the Montagne delle Felci e dei Porri covers the two extinct cones with ferns, chestnut trees and freshwater springs.
Stay in Capo d'Orlando
A base in the centre — and everything else becomes a day trip.
The port for the Aeolians is 45 minutes away, the Nebrodi right behind. Breakfast served early for dawn departures.
Direct booking, no intermediaries · See the rooftop →
