Aeolian Islands
UNESCO World Heritage Site (Isole Eolie, Inscribed 2000 On Natural Criteria For Their Volcanic Geology), Seven Islands Including The Continuously Active Stromboli · Lipari, Sicily
Seven volcanic islands off the north coast of Sicily, two of which are still erupting. Stromboli has thrown lava out of its summit every twenty minutes or so for about two thousand years, reliably enough that Roman sailors used it as a lighthouse, and boats go out at dusk to watch the glow from the water. Vulcano has a hissing sulphurous crater you can walk up and a shoreline where gas bubbles through the sea. The other five are quieter: Lipari with the only real town and a superb archaeological museum, Salina green and terraced, Panarea small and fashionable, Filicudi and Alicudi barely connected to anything at all. Getting between them is entirely by boat, which is the whole rhythm of a trip here and also the catch, because wind cancels crossings and can strand you for a day. The islands are a UNESCO site for their geology rather than their history, and outside July and August they are close to empty.
Via Maurolico, Lipari, Sicily, 98055, Italy
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The structure: beaches, paths and the islands themselves are open ground with no hours. Lipari's archaeological museum keeps state-museum hours with a weekly closing day. Vulcano's crater path is daylight-only and CLOSES WHEN GAS LEVELS ARE HIGH. Stromboli summit access is guide-only and restricted by altitude, with the restriction changing without notice. FERRIES ARE THE REAL TIMETABLE: frequent in summer, thin in winter and cancelled in wind. Much of the tourist trade shuts from November to March.