Page 243 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Ginostra, which is plenty of time to see it, while at Strombolicchio there’s

swimming and a 200-step climb up the battlemented rock to the lighthouse on its top.

At night, the stock-in-trade is the cruise to see the Sciara del Fuoco (1hr 30min;
around €25 per person), the lava channel rising sheer out of incredible deep-blue
sea water. Boats aren’t allowed to dock on the shoreline, since it’s too
unpredictably dangerous, but through the gloom you’ll see orange and red flashes
from the crater above.

You can book tours at any of the stands by Stromboli Town harbour (prices are
broadly similar on all the boats), where you can also charter a boat for longer tours
or rent your own, or from Paola and Giovanni ( 338 431 2803) who work from
opposite the Sirenetta hotel in Ficogrande.

Stromboli village

The main settlement of Stromboli spreads for a distance of around 2km between the
lower slopes of the volcano and the island’s beaches. It’s an utterly straightforward
layout of two largely parallel roads and steep, interconnecting alleys, though the
profusion of local place-names keeps visitors on their toes. From the scruffy quayside
area known as Scari, the lower coastal road (Via Marina and Via Regina Elena) runs

around to the main beach of Ficogrande, a long black stretch overlooked by several
hotels. Further on is Piscità, around 25 minutes’ walk from the port, with the island’s
most beautiful and secluded ashy beach at its far end. There’s also a sand-and-stone
stretch south of Scari, past the fishing boats, and if you clamber over the rocks at the

end of this beach, there’s a further sweep of lava-stone beach that attracts a fair bit of
nude sunbathing.

Pottering around Stromboli village as you go about your daily business is one of the
great pleasures of being on the island. The other road from the quayside cuts up into
what could loosely be described as “the village”, where, as Via Roma, it runs as far
as the church of San Vincenzo, whose square offers glorious views of the

Strombolicchio basalt stack. Beyond the square, it’s another fifteen minutes’ or so
walk to the second church of San Bartolo, above Piscità, just beyond which starts the
path to the crater. Once you’ve got this far, you’ve seen all that Stromboli village has
to offer. The only “sight”, apart from the churches, is the house in which Ingrid
Bergman lived with Roberto Rossellini in the spring of 1949, while making the film
Stromboli: Terra di Dio. A plaque records these bare facts on the pink building, just

after San Vincenzo church, on the right.