The Island of Salina, in the heart of the Aeolian Islands, is the second largest Island of the archipelago.
Geography of Salina Island
It measures 26.4 km² and is the second by extension and population after Lipari. It is divided into three municipalities of the metropolitan city of Messina: Santa Marina Salina, Malfa and Leni (until 1867 it was part of the territory of Lipari, subsequently it was an autonomous municipality until 1910) and has a total of about 2,300 inhabitants. Formed by six ancient volcanoes, it has the first and third highest relief of the archipelago: Mount Fossa delle Felci, 962 m, and Monte dei Porri, 860 m, which retain the typical conical shape. From these two extinct volcanoes, seen from the north-east, derives its ancient Greek name Διδύμη, Didỳmē (from δίδυμος, dìdymos, “twin”). The current name derives from a small lake in the village of Lingua in the municipality of S. Marina di Salina, from which the salt was extracted.
History of Salina Island
From the excavations, settlements dating back to the Bronze Age and an alternation of periods of complete abandonment with others of strong development have emerged. Findings near Santa Marina show a notable settlement around the 4th century BC. Around the 7th century AD Salina was one of the most populated Aeolian islands, because the volcanoes of Lipari were in activity. The Arab invasions made it deserted until, around the seventeenth century, it became populated again.
Salina is the most fertile of the Aeolian islands and rich in water; fine grapes are grown here from which Malvasia delle Lipari is obtained, a wine with a sweet flavor, and capers which are exported all over the world.
Resources of Salina Island
The Aeolian Islands have always had a powerful charm. Inhabited since the Stone Age, they allowed their first inhabitants to thrive thanks to the trade in obsidian, a volcanic rock that is found in abundance in Lipari. The pumice quarries, now abandoned, were one of Lipari’s main economic resources in the second half of the twentieth century. Either extinct or active, the volcanoes of the Aeolian Islands have thus shaped their landscapes, fertilized their soil and nourished men.
Today we come to the Aeolian archipelago to relax, forget stress and worries, marvel along its hiking trails or around its craters, taste authentic and rich products that are the pride of Sicilian cuisine, enjoy a luxuriant nature and generous queen, always a sun awaits you and a sea worthy of the most beautiful documentary scenes in the sector. In short, have a dream vacation!
