STROMBOLI
Stromboli, Aeolian archipelago, Sicily north coast, Thyrrenian Sea. Little more than 12 square kilometres and up to 900 metres high. The more active Volcano in Europe. The area of the craters is always visible at a certain distance from land and sea. Since 20.000 years it is in constant eruption. The explosions occur from the summit craters emitting ash, incandescent lava fragments and lithic blocks. Stromboli has been inhabited since prehistoric times and until the end of the 19th century sustained a population of around 4000 inhabitants, with an economy mainly based on typical Mediterranean agriculture: olives, wine, capers and figs. For the rest, they were living on fishing. At the beginning of the 20th century, then, the island started to empty. A great part of the population emigrated in Australia and in South and North America, the island was left nearly deserted. In the Fifties the island is repopulated. Only recently, its land is coltivated anew, thanks to the introduction of innovative and eco-sustainable technics of agriculture. Today more than 400 inhabitants live between Stromboli and Ginostra, on the oher side of the island.