The Aeolian or Lipari Islands, a remarkable volcanic group, belong rather to Sicily than to Italy, though Stromboli, the most easterly of them, is about equidistant from Sicily and from the mainland.
According to Virgil, Aeolus dwells on one of the Aeolian islands to the north of Sicily, Lipara or Strongyle (Stromboli), where he keeps the winds imprisoned in a vast cavern (Virgil, Aen.
In 1676 a Dutch squadron fought two hard but indecisive battles with a superior French force, off Stromboli (8th of January) and off Messina (22nd of April).
They are seven in number - Lipari (Lipara, pop. in 1901, 15,290), Stromboli (Strongyle), Salina (Didyme, pop. in 1901, 4934), Filicuri (Phoenicusa), Alicuri (Ericusa), Vulcano (Hiera, Therasia or Thermissa), the mythical abode of Hephaestus, and Panaria (Euonymus).
Stromboli, 22 m.