Isole Eolie. The definitive guide, and my diary entries from each island.
Airbnb links included.
Okay, ragazzi, here’s the agenda. First, I’ll go through my diary entries to give you an idea of what these islands are like. Then we’ll tackle the logistics. Andiamo!
Lipari. The biggest of the Aeolian islands, but still not too busy. We stayed at this airbnb with a kitchen and a terrace overlooking the Vulcano island. Had a spritz on the terrace every evening. The cliffs go all pink during sunset. Spent afternoons on the Valle Muria beach. Just us there. Hair all curly from the salt. Spoke to the airbnb owner. His grandpa left the property to 11 kids he had with 8 different women (what!). Some Italian, some German, Swedish, American. Imagine. Drama drama. The next day, we walked to Spiaggia de La Forbice. Tiny but so nice. Also, no sand! So, try and control your urge to buy those funny tourist swim shoes. You’ll be fine without it. Stopped by the alimentari, got artichokes, arugula, prosciutto, and a spritz in the city, and went to Chiesa Vecchia di Quattropani during sunset. Wild flowers in full bloom. Pre-rain. You see the entirety of the Salina island and it feels like it’s on your palm. Bare legs and a sweater kind of weather. Got a wine at the Belvedere Quattrocchi. What a view. Such nice woman works there. Woke up at 7:45, coffee’s on the stove. My boyfriend’s still snoozing. I can see Etna clearly now. I’m reading Joan Didion, and I hate to say it, but I don’t get it (the story about NYC is very good, but everything else??). Hiked the west side of the island, from Pianoconte, via Cala Fico, to Quattropani. So stunning. Picked wild asparagus and made an omelette later. Got two ice cream sandwiches for lunch. Showered, got to the city, ate a freshly made ricotta cannolo from Arte e Sapori di Pino D’Ambra. Onto Salina!
Salina. The greenest island. Two big volcanos and a valley between them. We stayed at this airbnb. Old, but so well renovated with white exposed beams, 5m tall ceilings, and vintage old plates. Huge rosemary and sage bushes out front. Spent the afternoons at the fishermen’s cove at Pollara. Tanning, swimming and getting small bloody scratches from the rocks. But it’s fine. Pollara is insane. You feel like you’re in another world and all you see are volcanic mountains, endless blue sea, cliffs 30m tall, one big rock in the middle of the bay, Filicudi and Alicudi in the back, and absolutely no beach, no bars. Haha. We went to the panoramic point to watch the sunset. My boyfriend got beers and crisps from a vendor. He walked back beaming. And it’s magical. Truly an unbelievably beautiful place. The next day I got a ricotta granita with candied capers at Pa.Pe.Ro cafe. The only place where you can get this probably in the world. You could taste how fresh the milk is. Went there every day, and now I am in a process of candying capers at home. Also, the only shopping I did was for ceramics, specifically at Boutique Flora cause they had the prettiest offer. Spent 15 minutes choosing egg holders, and the owners were funny and were pushing my boyfriend to come and help me choose, and truthfully all other ceramics sellers were getting on my nerves. Also, another tip is In Sé Natura. Looks amazing, but it was closed when we were in Salina.
Filicudi. Salina was my boyfriend’s favourite, but I loved Filicudi. We disembarked, and Alessio was waiting for us wearing blue overalls and standing in front of a big Jeep. Drove us up, and asked so sweetly if we wanted to stop for coffee. Imagine. We got to the airbnb, and walked over to an agency to rent a scooter. An Aussie guy in his 50s stopped us and gave us a ride in his open-head four-wheeler to the village called Pecorini (these names!). He lives there. 6 months Sydney, 6 months Filicudi. The next day we got dinner at Da Piero. And proceeded to do the same every single night. Octopus salad, zucchini fritters, and campari sodas. Carabinieri on the table next to us watching Grand Prix. Got a ricotta tart and cornetto every morning from the only café open. And said buon giorno to everyooooone. Spent all afternoons at the beach with huge pebbles. Calm sea, only us and a German couple skinny dipping. Saw a snake on the way there. Stayed reading until 7 pm. Finished Lucy by the Sea. The next day, we did a giro del isola with Stefano from Il Delfini (we got the scooter from them too). Saw volcanic rocks, wild goats with baby goats on steep cliffs, and absolutely no houses. Caves, coves, and places where you feel like you might be the first person ever seeing them. Then the comedy started. We wanted to pay and the POS machine did not work. They tried three times and it still didn’t work. And the owner said he wants to throw the machine against the wall haha (I died laughing). He called his wife, who works at the bank, cause obviously she has to know how to fix the machine. She was on a video call and waved to everyone. Italians never call; they always do video. There were 7 of us in the room by that point. All of this while a calendar of Pope Francis was on the wall. Ragazzi, do you want a coffee? Yes, I do want a coffee. My boyfriend said: this is how I feel when I’m around your family. At 6:10am Alessio was waiting to take us to the ferry so we can go to Panarea. Ahh! Filicudi is so magical, so funny, so lovely. I felt like I was at home in Croatia when I was there.
Panarea. We left Filicudi at 7 am, and by 9:45 we were in Panarea. It’s different. Pretty, chic, and a place where I’d come with my girlfriends, or where couples go on a honeymoon. More foreigners as well. People don’t say hi here a lot, so that’s a bit different than in Filicudi, but it’s okay. Got an early check-in, and swam and chilled on huge rocks in front of the airbnb. Had lunch in Da Paolino. Fish-shaped plates and almond crumble instead of parmesan. Our house on the seafront. Huge bed with the bottom sheet perfectly cold, and a sweet small kitchen where I made a tomato salad while my boyfriend did crosswords. Latin word for a way? Five letters, the last letter is S (Answer at the end. Come on, you know it.). Everything smells like jasmine. Woke up every day with the sound of waves. Window open to let the sun come in. Mosquito net on. Maybe the loveliest sound (and a view) you can imagine. I spent the next days walking to and from Cala Zimmari, the only sandy beach on the island. Reading a lot. Patti Smith’s Just Kids. Very good. Turns out Patti is just a sweet artsy girl. We took a ferry and hiked up to Stromboli. Saw 4 snakes. Had a pasta with sea urchins (ricci!). Got home, applied endless layers of after-sun and went to Raya for a Friday night spritz. Hair, still wet from the shower. I love summer.
Okay now for the logistics…
Why should you go there? It’s isolated. Far away from everything. The nature is magical. You feel like you’re on the other side of the world. The vantage points are high, so views spread towards Etna, Sicily, and all other islands scattered around. You get to go back to basics, eat simple lunches of prosciutto and melon, and you read, and swim on beaches with almost no one else. And most importantly, cause I think 90% of my readership is female, you get very tanned. Haha. And the houses are very pretty. All urban development is highly controlled, so they can’t build new properties, only renovate existing houses, but it has to be in Aeolian style (dream job!). So if you swoon over big terraces, marble kitchens, and original iron details in the shape of suns and stars, you’ll like it.
How to get there? Fly to Catania. Get a bus from Catania airport to Milazzo (2hrs). From Milazzo you can get to any of the Aeolian islands.
When to go? Go in May or beginning of June. It’s low season. It’s not busy at all. You’ll have the beaches to yourself. You’ll stay in those stunning Airbnbs, which are very affordable in May—before their prices literally quadruple from June onwards. Days are long. The weather is good, but not too hot. And maybe the only small minus is that not all restaurants are open yet. But ferries run often, and on schedule. That’s it. Case closed.
For how long? We did a bit over 2 weeks. 4 islands, 4 nights on each. I thought this would be tight, but it was perfect. 4 islands, 3 nights each, could also work well, I believe. Which islands? We stayed on Lipari, Salina, Filicudi, and Panarea, and did day-trips to Alicudi and Stromboli. I was happy with this choice.
Now, let’s get specific, cause I think Eolie have some quirks which are good to know in advance.
Be ready to lower your expectations on some amenities. These islands are tiny, isolated, and only 15k people live there in total. So obviously there isn’t much there. Often, there’s only one supermarket, and it’s closed on Sunday. Bread gets delivered with the first ferry, so you have to wait until 9-10 am. Sometimes there’s only one or two restaurants open for dinner. And you know those lido-style Italian beach bars, the ones where you lie on a sun-bed all day and order aperols and paninis. They are not common there. I think if you want all of that, you’d love Ischia (which is amazing btw). But I wanted remoteness. I wanted to chill, read, swim, and escape city life, where everything is served to me on a silver platter at all times.
It’s really easy (and fast) to get from one island to another. I thought this would be a mess, but it really wasn’t. We did 10 ferry journeys all together. There are hydrofoils and they are fast (the longest took 1.45 hours, the shortest 25’), super reliable, punctual, and there are multiple journeys a day. If you travel during peak season (which you shouldn’t IMO), buy a ticket online in advance, but in low season, just go to the ticket office and practice your Italian. Posso due biglietti per Alicudi? Andata e ritorno.
It helps if you’re in decent physical shape. Haha. Look, I’ll be honest, it’s very hilly. And I don’t mean Lisbon-style hilly. I mean it in a never-ending stairmaster way. Plus Aeolian islands are super known for hiking, and I believe that says enough.
It’s not a food odyssey journey. The offer in supermarkets and restaurants is modest. Again, it’s really isolated, hence the scarce produce. But, fishermen dock at the pier at sunrise and sunset so you can buy fresh spada. They have capers, tomatoes, aubergine, lemons, ricotta cakes, and I found local zucchini, arugula, and apricots from the garden. There are a lot of home restaurants where people literally cook for you in their kitchen. It’s Italy, so it’s still probably better than anything you ate this year, but it’s not bursting with mainland abundance.
Knowing Italian (very basic Italian) is very helpful.
The beaches are tiny, and there aren’t that many of them. So they get crowded quickly. One more reason for you to visit in off-season. Also no sand. Just big pebbles.
It’s a bit more expensive than Sicily. Not crazy, but noticeable. Likely due to the remoteness and the transportation costs.
Don’t pack heels or anything fancy. This is the type of summer holiday where you’re spending 95% of the time in Havaianas, pareo, and with your hair still wet from the shower. The only moment I had the tiniest inclination to dress up was at Panarea, and by dress-up I mean to put on a mascara and a pink linen mini. Also, pack a carry-on only cause all the stairs, ferries, and hills are not made for bulky luggage.
There’s a micro-climate. It’s significantly cooler than in Catania even though they are not so far away from each other. But when Catania is steaming at 35°C, you’ll be enjoying a perfect 27°C in Filicudi. Also due to the higher altitudes and the barren landscape, it can get windy, so bring a sweater.
Oh, a Latin word for a way… it’s modus.
Thank you so much for reading. It takes time to put these articles together, but I am buzzing and feel so fulfilled to see them come to life. If you like them, spread the word about Cafe Léyo. Okay, big big kiss! Buona Domenica!
The effort put into these blogs 🥲 always looking forward to the next one!!
Divan tekst, uživala sam :) I hvala ti puno na ovom vodiču, koristit će :) Btw, haljina ti je preeslatka!!