Astonishingly beautiful and extremely varied, the seven islands and various uninhabited islets of the Aeolian archipelago were designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2000. Their volcanic origins left a dramatic legacy of black-sand beaches, smouldering craters and splintered, rocky coastlines. Island-hoppers can discover their individual charms: from the spartan conical Alicudi, where donkeys are the only form of land transport, to the international jet-set playground of Panarea.
North of Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea, the archipelago was named after Aeolus, god of the winds, by Greek settlers. This has been a volatile part of the world ever since Filicudi, the first land mass, emerged from the sea 600,000 years ago. There are two active volcanoes, Stromboli and Vulcano, and volcanic activity of some kind, whether steaming fumaroles or thermal waters waiting to be tapped, on most of the other islands. Winter storms see the islands cut off for days.
Like many coastal communities, the islands, with a total population of 10,000, have very different characters depending on the season. The head count swells to 200,000 in summer: ports fill with yachts; bars and beaches overflow with the very beautiful and the very wealthy. In August, the rich and famous sail in to Panarea on their multi-million-euro yachts to occupy villas or €500-a-night hotel rooms, and they don't do it quietly. This is easily the most fashionable and expensive of the islands, but there is more variety in the Aeolians than a quick jaunt around Panarea's shores in peak season might lead you to believe.
Lipari
The largest of the Aeolian Islands, Lipari is also the only one with a sizeable town, a substantial year-round population and much in the way of industry. Pumice quarries have taken huge bites out of the mountains, though mining has recently been banned and there are plans to create a 'geo-park' with an eco-museum and thermal baths. Although the town has its attractions (the fortified acropolis, some flower-hung alleys, the pretty harbour of Marina Corta), it's not a very sophisticated place. Gaudy sarongs, mass-produced jewellery and overpriced tourist menus compete for visitors' attention with hardware stores, chandleries and the archipelago's main supermarket.
The coast around here is wild, rocky and, best of all, undeveloped, with splintered rocks offshore and extraordinary views. It's inaccessible by car, but you can reach it on foot at Valle Muria, where there's a beach (and, in season, boats to and from the port), or at Punta delle Fontanelle.
The coastal highlight is the footpath along the coast between the Terme di San Calogero and the kaolin quarry at Bagnosecco, where the surface of the creamy white kaolin has been stained indigo, violet, orange, mustard, blue and verdigris by emissions from steaming sulphurous fumaroles.
Vulcano
Although awash with eminently marketable novelties (a constantly smouldering volcano, the chance to wallow in warm mud baths and swim above bubbling mid-sea fumaroles), Vulcano has been developed in careless fashion. The little town has the unfinished look of a Western film set, and the promontory of Vulcanello is studded with bland luxury hotels. There's also nowhere decent to eat, though this isn't necessarily a bad thing: the pervading rotten-egg stink of sulphur may already have killed your appetite.
The path up to the crater begins about a kilometre out of town on the road to Gelso, marked by a sign warning of the dangers of inhaling volcanic gases. The climb (access €3) takes less than an hour, though you'll need hiking boots to cope with the slitheriness of the ashy track.
The Fanghi di Vulcano (mud baths) and offshore fumaroles are a couple of minutes' walk from the port. Don't wear contact lenses, don't let kids play in the mud - and don't be surprised if you stink of sulphur for a couple of days afterwards. Alternatively, you could head to the rather more genteel Oasi della Salute spa, which has three thermal hydromassage pools and a beauty centre (00 39 090 985 2093, closed October to March).
Salina
Twin-peaked Salina is the greenest of the islands, famous for its starring role in the 1994 film Il Postino. Santa Marina Salina, the main port, is notable for its long, traffic-free main street, where chic boutiques and down-to-earth food shops occupy the ground floors of the substantial 19th-century houses built by those who made their fortune selling sweet Malvasia wine to the British. Most of these entrepreneurs lost their fortunes in 1890 when phylloxera destroyed 90 per cent of the vines and prompted a mass exodus to Australia (and the start of that country's wine industry), but viticulture in the area has been revitalised. Local wines can be tasted at vineyards such as Fenech at Malfa (00 39 090 984 4041; fenech.it), Caravaglio at Capofaro (00 39 090 9843420) and D'Amico at Leni (00 39 090 980 9123).
The story of the island and of the emigration are vividly evoked in two tiny folk museums, the Museum of Emigration in Malfa (00 39 090 984 4008) and the Ethnographic Museum in Lingua (090 984 3128). However, you are more likely to want to spend your time in Lingua lying on the stony beach or lingering over a granita at the famous Da Alfredo bar.
Spring and autumn are the best times to climb Monte Fossa delle Felci, the highest peak in the archipelago (summer being too hot and winter prone to sudden storms). The best way to see the south of the island is to take a bus to the village of Leni then follow a series of mule tracks down the mountain to Rinella, where there's good swimming from a black-sand beach.
If you can, try to be at Pollara, the setting for Il Postino, at sunset. A simple trattoria, Il Cappero, and a hotel, La Locanda del Postino (00 39 090 984 3958; www.lalocandadelpostino.it), have recently opened here, but there are no shops or bars out of season.
Panarea
If you aren't a member of the rich and famous posse who hang out at painfully cool Hotel Raya or take their sunset aperitivi at the Bridge Sushi Bar in the port, Panarea in August is probably best avoided. But if you want to swim, walk or take boat trips around what is probably the most beautiful of the Aeolian Islands, come in spring or autumn. The hotels are generally pretty expensive, but Pippo and Maria (00 39 090 983060) have perfectly nice rooms to rent in a quiet part of the village.
Be sure to take the 40-minute walk to the dark gold sandy beach of Zammarà and the magnificent bay of Cala Junca beyond, at the foot of a promontory topped by the foundations of Bronze Age huts. A 20-minute walk to the other side of the village brings you to the beach of Calcara, where fumaroles steaming through sulphur-stained rocks led ancient Panareans to believe it was an entrance to the Underworld. A boat trip out to the offshore islets is another must. The formation and colours of the rock on each are unique. Below tiny Basiluzzo, when the sea is calm and clear, you can see the remains of a Roman port and clamber up to the ruins of a Roman villa; nearby Lisca Bianca has submarine fumaroles bubbling at the surface of the sea, little sandy beaches and cliffs that have been stained yellow.
Stromboli
When Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman arrived on Stromboli in 1949 to shoot Stromboli, Terra di Dio, there was no hotel. A local teacher, Domenico Russo, provided Bergman with a house and secured the house next door for Rossellini, so the two could meet without compromising their reputations. After the film was released and tourists began to visit Stromboli, Russo opened the island's first hotel.
These days, it's the volcano that attracts most of Stromboli's visitors. The vast majority arrive brandishing alpenstocks and looking like hopefuls for the Foreign Legion. But if you're in reasonable shape, all you need to reach the top is trekking boots, a torch, a warm jacket, some water and €30 for your a place on a guided walk, which takes two hours and is timed so that you arrive on the summit at sunset.
The best beaches on Stromboli are the little coves of black sand tucked into lava crags along the coast at Piscità, from which there are fine views of the islet of Strombolicchio.
Filicudi & Alicudi
The tarmac road that connects the small settlements on Filicudi gives a false impression of the island. Villages that seem far apart are just a few minutes' walk from one another along the old mule tracks that cut through the terraces, and the island as a whole is best seen on foot or by boat. With a seabed that's home to scores of ancient shipwrecks, Filicudi offers some interesting diving. If you don't dive, take a boat trip around the island to see the hidden sea grotto, scene of a candlelit festival every year on 15 September.
The port is the least attractive part of the island. Head instead for the tiny fishing port of Pecorini a Mare, where there's little to do except eat good food, beachcomb (Filicudi has some of the best shells in the archipelago), and walk up to the clifftop belvedere to watch the sun set over the rock known as La Canna. Alicudi, by contrast, is an uncompromising cone rising from the sea, and can be scaled only by heaving yourself up steps a giant's stride high. Most visitors love it or hate it. There are just 80 year-round inhabitants and, it's said, most of them loathe the sight of each other. Rumour, superstition and ghost sightings abound, as does the conviction that some Alicudari are blessed with the power to divert cyclones.
Where to stay
Carasco, Lipari
Porto delle Genti (00 39 090 981 1605; carasco.it). Closed Nov-Mar. Doubles from €80.
In its heyday, the Carasco hosted the likes of Dustin Hoffman and Robert de Niro; a few years on, it remains the place on Lipari for a poolside holiday. Built in the 1960s by Sicilian nobleman Marco del Bono, it has the best site on the island: perched on a cliff above town, with steps down to a jetty if you prefer to swim in the sea rather than the best (saltwater) pool in the archipelago. All the double rooms have sea views; other attractions include huge terraces, a poolside bar and a decent restaurant.
Casa Mulino, Alicudi
Via Regina Elena, (00 39 090 988 9681; alicudicasamulino.it). Closed Nov-Mar. One-room apartment from €70.
A working flour mill until the 1920s, 19th-century Casa Mulino was bought in the 1950s as a holiday house by the parents of Michele Wegner. For the past few years, Wegner and his wife, Laura, have let out four charming apartments above a black-sand beach in a craggy lava cove. The terraces look out to sea; most of the time, the only sounds you'll hear are the waves and the birds.
Hotel Quartara, Panarea
Via San Pietro 15 (00 39 090 983027; quartarahotel.com). Closed Dec-Mar. Doubles from €180.
This 13-room boutique hotel opened in 2002 in what was once the island's biggest grocery shop. The flat-roofed whitewashed building is typically, serenely Aeolian, with white enamelled lavastone tiles and white glazed amphorae along the walls; lie in the rooftop Jacuzzi as the sun sets and candles flicker around you. The furniture is mostly Indonesian teak; beds are spread with ivory hand-crocheted Sicilian covers; and south-east Asian textiles hang on the walls. The restaurant has superb views over sea and harbour.
Hotel Signum, Salina
Via Scalo 15, Malfa (00 39 090 984 4222; hotelsignum.it). Closed Nov-Feb. Doubles from €130.
The bijou Signum is something of an oasis, hidden so discreetly in Malfa that the village is barely aware of its presence. Owner Clara Rametta is an inveterate collector of antiques and curiosities: the reception documents are filed in an old pharmacy cabinet and the library is furnished with vintage school desks. The restaurant is superb, but what everyone remembers about Hotel Signum is the infinity pool; swimming in it, you feel as if there's nothing between you and Stromboli.
Hotel Raya, Panarea
Via San Pietro (00 39 090 983013; hotelraya.it). Closed Nov-Mar. Doubles from €280.
Built in the 1960s entirely of natural materials, the Raya put Panarea on the international party map. It remains the hippest, sexiest and priciest hotel in the Aeolians. In-crowders will feel they've died and gone to heaven; outsiders may feel as if everyone but them has been invited to the party. The rooms (whitewashed walls, teak furniture, hand-batiked textiles) are built into the hillside, with great views to the sea across groves of olives, hibiscus and bougainvillea; the bar, club and restaurant are above the harbour.
Sirenetta Park Hotel, Stromboli
Via Marina 33 (00 39 090 986025; lasirenetta.it). Closed Nov-Mar. Doubles from €120.
Founded by Domenico Russo in the wake of the craze stimulated by Roberto Rossellini's Stromboli, the Sirenetta sits outside town on the long black-sand beach of Ficogrande, and is run with grace and imagination. With flat roofs and terraces, the whitewashed rooms are laid out in spacious, well-tended gardens that contain a saltwater pool. Yoga courses and spa treatments are available, and there's also a diving centre, a tennis court and an amphitheatre used for concerts, plays, films and weddings. On the beach across the road sits the chic La Tartana Club; in summer, the fashionable set gather here for cocktails, music and dinner.
Villa Meligunis, Lipari
Via Marte 7 (00 39 090 981 2426; villameligunis.it. Doubles from €150.
Located in the old fisherman's quarter behind the port of Marina Corta, the Villa Meligunis occupies an 18th-century palazzo once inhabited by the man who funded the first archaeological excavations of Lipari. The 32 rooms have terracotta-tiled floors and heavy cream bed linen; the superior rooms have private terraces, and the nearby Residence Agave houses six self-contained apartments. The hotel's finest feature is its roof garden, with pool, bar, restaurant, and panoramic views.
Where to eat
Aeolian cuisine revolves around a few key ingredients - pomodorini (cherry tomatoes), capers, olives, anchovies, wild greens, fresh fish - and most restaurants at least nod towards tradition. But most of the independent restaurants have yet to catch up with hotels in style and service: contemporary eating and drinking options are generally tied to the local hotels. Eating choices on Alicudi are limited: agriturismo Da Rosina Alla Mimosa (via Vallone 3; 00 39 090 988 9937; rosina-barbuto.it) is your best bet, offering meals made from ingredients grown on site and simple rooms.
Da Adelina, Panarea
Via Comunale del Porto 28 (00 39 090 983246). Closed Nov-mid Mar.
Mercurial young chef Giuseppe Taranto runs this cosy candlelit restaurant overlooking Panarea's port. The menu is simple, with seasonal dishes such as moscardini (tiny octopus cooked with tomato, capers, wild fennel and chilli) appearing alongside year-round recipes such as pennette Adelina (dressed with anchovies, aubergine, capers, olives, mint and basil). But you can't really go wrong with the mixed fish of the day, fried or grilled with a selection of vegetables.
Da Alfredo, Salina
Piazza Marina Garibaldi, Lingua (00 39 090 984 3075). Closed Nov-Mar.
Giorgio Armani and Sean Connery will send their staff out from their yachts to bring back granite from Da Alfredo. These sorbets of fresh fruit or ground nuts are made on the tiny premises by Alfredo and his sons; in season, the varieties are joined by fig and prickly pear. The cafe's terrace, which in summer takes up half the seafront piazza of Lingua, is the heart and soul of the village: during daylight hours, people hang out here between swimming and sunbathing, then come in the evenings for aperitivi or after-dinner granite. Da Alfredo is also famous for its gargantuan pane cunzato, a circle of grilled bread piled high with tomatoes, capers, roast aubergine, tuna, olives and ricotta - it will comfortably feed two.
Filippino, Lipari
Piazza Mazzini (00 39 090 981 1002; filippino.it). Closed mid Nov-late Dec.
With its plastic sign, green baize-carpeted terrace and wobbly white trellises of jasmine, this family-run, century-old fish specialist doesn't look like much, but it attracts the likes of Naomi Campbell and Sting. The tasting menu might include translucent bresaola di tonno (sweet home-cured tuna) alongside original uses of typical Sicilian ingredients: a robust soup of beans, wild fennel and sardines, say, or a dessert of jasmine-flower mousse.
Porto Bello, Salina
Via Bianchi 1, Santa Marina Salina (00 39 090 984 3125). Closed mid Nov-mid Mar.
Sitting right above the water at Salina's port, Porto Bello offers consistently excellent cooking. Look out in particular for local prawns served raw with a yoghurt dip, or the spaghetti al fuoco: invented by owner Teodoro d'Albora, it contains raw pomodorini, basil, chilli and ricotta infornata (baked ricotta, which takes on a nutty, caramelly taste). Mains depend on the catch of the day: if you're lucky, they'll have fried scorfano (scorpion fish). Below the restaurant is Layla, Salina's coolest bar.
La Sirena, Filicudi
Filicudi Via Pecorini Mare (00 39 090 988 9997; pensionelasirena.it).
Antonio, a former bank manager, is an inventive cook. You'll find dishes on La Sirena's sea-view terrace that you won't get anywhere else. Spaghetti might arrive with a simple pesto of almonds or a ragù spiked with orange; fish dishes could include a juicy, heartily spiced sausage of tuna, served with caramelised onion jam. If the service is sometimes a little too unhurried, the quality of the food and friendliness of the service (from Alina, Antonio's gentle English wife) more than compensate. The couple also rent out rooms and small houses around the village.
Da Zurro, Stromboli
Via Picone 18 (00 39 090 986 283).
With its bright lights and sliding aluminium-framed windows, Da Zurro isn't the most inviting environment, but you will eat extremely well here. Bearded, piratical chef Zurro started out as a fisherman but shocked his pals by tampering with traditional recipes; he eventually opened his eponymous restaurant to show them he was right. The food is as flamboyant as Zurro himself: razor-thin slices of aubergine, flecked with chilli flakes and served with balsamic-dressed rocket and parmesan; spaghetti alla strombolana, with cherry tomatoes, anchovies, mint, chilli and garlic; and black ravioli stuffed with ricciola, a local fish, and dressed with capers, cherry tomatoes and basil.
Getting there
The main port for ferries and hydrofoils to the Aeolian Islands is Milazzo in Sicily, but services are reduced outside the peak season. In summer, they also run to and from Messina and Palermo, and Reggio Calabria and Naples on the mainland. Most call at Lipari first, then continue on. Contact Siremar (00 39 091 749 3111; siremar.it), Ustica Lines (00 39 090 928 7821; usticalines.it); or NGI (00 39 090 928 3415; ngi-spa.it). On Sicily, buses run from Catania airport to Messina train station, a 15-minute walk from the hydrofoil port; in summer, there's also one bus a day to Milazzo port. There are more regular buses between Messina and Milazzo port, leaving from via Terrasini, a five-minute walk from the railway station. There are decent bus services all year round on Lipari and Salina. Except for Alicudi, all the islands have taxis; those on Panarea are electric.
· Extracted from Time Out's first country guide: Italy: Perfect places to Stay, Eat & Explore, published by Ebury on 3 April (£14.99). To order a copy for £13.99 with free UK p&p go to theguardian.com/bookshop or call 0870 836 0875
