Elite Traveler Spring 2023

EXPLORE THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS

This image Lipari, the largest and most populated of the Aeolian Islands

GUIDETO THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS An archipelago of seven volcanic islands, the Aeolian Islands embody the Sicilian coastline at its wildest and most beautiful. Named after the mythical god of the wind, these seven islands o ff Sicily are a remote destination full of rugged adventure. The lack of mass fl ights means the islands are blissfully peaceful — a time capsule of slow-paced Italian summer holidays that belong in an Elena Ferrante novel. To write an Aeolian Islands guide is not a matter of deciding what to include, but how to possibly encapsulate it all. To get here, take a fl ight to Palermo or Catania, a taxi or train to Milazzo, and then a hydrofoil ferry out into the deep blue abyss of the Aeolians. Otherwise, fi ve of the seven islands have helipads, with helicopter transfers available from Sicily and the Amal fi Coast. However you decide to travel, daily life slips further away with each leg of the journey, until the striking volcanic islands loom on the horizon and time slows down a notch.

by Phoebe Hunt