The Italian Island of Sicily has two major archipelagos of smaller islands near its coasts: the Egades and the Aeolian. These last islands, named after the Wind God Aeolus, comprises Lipari, Salina, Filicudi, Alicudi, and Vulcano and Stromboli, this last one called the Lighthouse of the Mediterranean. Stromboli is considered the most active volcano of the world, as it has an eruption every ten or 15 minutes.

Vulcano, seen in the background of this photograph, was another lovely island till the 1880's, when a violent explosion ripped it apart. What is left today still streams hot ocean water out, and fumaroles of different types are to be seen and smelled, sulphur being one mineral readily available for the picking, as it was during last century.

But it is not the only active volcano in the area. From here, besides seeing Vulcano and Stromboli, we can see back south, at the high Mount Etna, another tremendous active volcano, with a terrible eruptive history. Lately it has been on an active binge, smoking and erupting again. As proof of the volcanic origin of this group of islands, we have, on Lipari, a large industry of pumice, or volcanic ash where a whole mountain is being ground into fine dust, and exported for so many different uses, among which are polishes, toothpaste, and filters for the sugar industry. This island has a very long history of human habitation, and of trading obsidian or volcanic glass, used all over central and southern Europe for knives. At night we approached Mount Stromboli from the west on our ship, and enjoyed the spectacle of repeated eruptions.