Boat Trips: to the "Sciara del Fuoco", in 30 minutes; to Strombolicchio, in 20 minutes; to Ginostra, in an hour it is advisable to circumnavigate the island in order to admire the wonderful coastline.

From the abysses of the Tyrrhenian Sea rises, in a symphony of colour, the mass of Stromboli with bold slopes which stand out vigorously aganist a sapphire sky. On the Eastern slopes, covered by a mantle of green, stand out, neatly and attractively, typical small white houses which, seen from above, produce the sensation of a swarm of snow-white butterflies perched on a vast emerald lawn. Some, ranged along beaches black as ebany or near lavic rocks, offer strange contrasts of colour. Other houses are perched around the churches or hidden amongst century-old olive trees. Yet others clamber up the steep slopes of the hill; they are for the most part dilapidated and once offered shelter to the Strombolans who took refuge in them when fleeing from the nightly incursions of Saracen pirates.

Around the village run long hedges of prickly pear which often indicate the boundaries of the various properties. Spread capriciously on the crags or clinging to the walls, the caper bushes make a beautiful sight with their shape of strange verdant umbrellas which, during the Summer season, are decorated by gaudy white flowers. In the Spring the thick olive trees and boundless vines, in place intersected by rows of wistaria, briars and broom, engulfed in a sea of high grass, mixed with a thousand wild flowers, offer an enchanting polychrome scene amongst inebriating effluvia. A symphonic note completes the idyllic picture: it is the lament of the cicala drunk with sun and perfume. This Eastern side of the island, clothed in luxuriant Vegetation and inundated by an ocean of light, between the splendour of sea and sky, contrasts with the Northern side: smooth, harsh, dark and often the theatre of apocalyptical phenomena. In this jarring antithesis of scenery, consists the typical peculiarity of Stromboli.

The island rises in depths which range from 1,100 to 1,200 metres so that the total height of the cone is between 2,026 and 2,126 metres. Its summit, called Serra Vancori (926 metres above sea level) is the remains of an ancient vulcanic crater comprised of andesitic lava. At more than 200 metres below this summit opens the actual active crater, bound to the East and West by towers and two crests, formed by banks of lava, conglomerants and dykes, called Filo del Fuoco on the East and Filo di Baraona on the West.

The four morphological units constituting the island are: the ancient stratum-volcano (Paleostromboli) of Serra Vancori to the South; the Cima (918 m.) five hundred metres North of the first; the present crater with four active mouths, 300 metres North of the Cima (Neostromboli) and the neck of Strombolicchio which represents a temporary cone.

The Stromboli volcanic apparatus stands between two faults, one with direction SW-NE crossing Lipari and Panarea and the other with direction EW crossing the two underwater uplands which are less than 1000 metres deep west of Stromboli. In the terrace of the crater one can observe the eruptive openings the number of which varies continuously. The activity of these consists in the launching of shreds of lava and incandescent slag, accompanied by more or less violent explosions, emission of vapour and lavic outflows. Often the various openings are active at the same time in different ways, but the manifestation of the volcano consists in the moderates activity of launching of contemporary slag which particularly at night offers an unforgettable spectacle.

This moderate activity, at times, is interrupted by brief but violent explosive phases which sometimes ends in the effusion of magma which runs down the slope of the Sciara del Fuoco. The most remarkable eruptions have been those of the years 1891, 1907, 1915, 1919, 1930 one of the most terrific, 1936, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959 and 1966. On 28 February 1955 is recorded an interesting eruption: it was evidently a lateral flow which appeared at the level or a little below the level oi the sea in the Sciara del Fuoco. The lava streams do not present any danger whatsoever for the inhabitants of the island since they flow along the Sciara del Fuoco not being able to deviate in other areas owing to the limiting edges.

Many authors in the past, have maintened that Stromboli volcano has never given rise to lavic outflows and they have described it as a volcano of exclusively explosive activity, so much that, from it that particular activity called "strombolian" has taken its name in volcanic terminology. The records of effusive activity confirm however, that the action of this volcano does not have only explosive character but is also eftusive with lavic outflows which at times are lenghty. The activity of the Stromboli volcano does not differ essentially from that of those with basic magma with normally open conduct and we must therefore maintain that at all times there has been a little apparent effusive activity together with an explosive one of greater force and therefore more easily noticeable. We can however conclude that the Stromboli volcano, due to the existence of the two eruptive forms, places it amongst the most active volcanoes existing on the Earth today.

Upon making a tour of the island and beginning from the vast beach of Scari, one sees the area of Punta Lena with white houses amongst huge palms which lend an Arabic aspect to the countryside. At the centre excels an old factory surmounted by a high chimney: the only one which is outlined against the sky of the island. Proceeding to the North, having passed Punta Lena, one skirts a beach set against a wall of tuff, after which opens up the central beach of the island, called Ficogrande, where steamers berth and which connect Stromboli with Sicily and Campania. This beach, as also that of Scari, up to the first World War accommodated large sailing vessels, which made the Stromboli merchant shipping the most important of the Aeolian Archipelago. Continuing the circular tour there stand out high rocky walls which advance decisively into the sea. Having passed this there opens up to the marvelled eye, the grandiose Vision of the Sciara del Fuoco, steep and vast slope ploughed through by torrents of lava which fiow towards the sea carrying enormous incandescent blocks which roll into the valley amidst a dense whirl of vapour and squall of cinders. At the top of the Sciara, at a height of 700 metres, one observes the eruptive apparatus, which opens, deeply encased amongst gigantic dykes and large masses of volcanic conglomerate often wrapped in thick fog and harassed by the burning material launched from the eruptive openlngs.

The spectacle offered by the Sciara assumes particular interest during the night: the streams then seem to be fantastic torrents of fire whilst the darkness becomes dispersed by luminous bands of enflamed slag, the vivid flashes of which reflect sinisterly on the sea. At times the incandescent streams seem motionless and suspended in the air owing to a curtain of fog which usually envelops the slope. From time to time rivulets detach themselves from their course with the shape of enormous, frightful dragons of nibelungen memory. Other streams flowing with imperceptible motion, divide and branch out like rivers in their delta. Often the crater launches incandescent masses of unmeasurable proportions which, at great heights, open fan-like letting fall, over a large area, a myriad of slag and luminous blocks similar to a rain of meteorites. In Piazza S. Pietro in Rome, the illuminated Bernini fountains give but a vague idea of such spectacle. The blocks of fire plummet onto the Sciara breaking into a thousand splinters like the sparks which fly from red-hot iron hammered on the anvil.

Often the crater, with ever increasing rythm, projects material after material giving rise to innumerable luminous trails which intersect reciprocally producing a phantasmogoria of light. The blocks sometimes fall upon the slope without breaking up but rolling down until, striking against dykes, fly into space describing ample parabolic curves; finally they fall into the sea with rumbling thuds, causing high columns of water to rise. Lavic shreds precipitate onto the shore, hop amongst the rocks and disappear; others. smaller and quicker lose themselves in the distance beyond the limit of the Sciara The material which rolls down like an avalanche, produces a characteristic metallic sound in the midst of a glare of ruddy light. On the dense clouds of vapour reeased constantly on the island, reverberate the thousand lights with infinite degrees amongst wonderful plays of shadow, whilst on the sea, the flashes produce trembling sparkles which follow each other until they die far away in the dark. The lavic banks which limit the Sciara on both sides, are tinted with reflections of fire which lend their aspect of Dantesque pits of Hell.

To the North West a promontory divides the Sciara del Fuoco from the village of Ginostra, which nestles in a vast amphitheatre with its small houses dominating rocky precipices bordered by agaves and engulfed between prickly pears and olives, which cover the whole area giving it an enchanting idyllic tone. One enters the village by the landing places of Lazzaro and Pertusio, the most important. A settlement has been identified on the timpone of Ginostra; it belongs to the culture of Capo Graziano [XVII-XVI century B.C.). After Ginostra follow rocky coasts alternating with avalanches of masses and deep sandy channels which, from the top of the hill, descend steeply to the sea. This grandiose but wild and sterile scenery contrasts with that which follows comprising a flat area knownas Lena. Amongst the diffused green broom, prickly pear and olive trees, peep out, here and there, a few very small houses of the usual original cubic form. The bult-up area of Stromboli, up to the middle of the last century, extended close to the sea along the beaches of Scari, Ficogrande and the rocks of Piscità. Today the central area of the village nestles nearer the hill, on a picturesque plain. Houses mainly lower but beautiful in their simplicity, appear white in the midst of a boundless sea of green. In nett contrast with the humble houses, tower, with superb bell-towers and domes, the two artistic temples, with three naves, of S. Vincenzo Ferreri and S. Bartolomeo. On the square facing the Church of S. Vincenzo Ferreri, until a few years ago, there rose, on a walled plinth, a colossal wooden cross. It had been erected on 22 August 1902 by French nobles who, on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, had stayed on the island. This stay was subsequently repeated each year and the majority of pilgrims made the interesting excursion to the crater area and to the summit of the hill goals which have always constituted the greatest attractions of Stromboli.