| Ultimate Italy / Islands
/ Lipari |
| Around the island |
Circumscribing the island is 29 kilometers of tar road that connects
all villages and attractions. Buses make 10 round trips of the island
each day. A trip to the quint little town of Quattropani and Acquacalda
will cost €1.55. Other destinations cost €1.30. Buses
depart from Marina Lunga. |
| Canneto |
| The second moist visited spot after the town of Lipari is the little
town of Canneto, 2km away. The town is famous for its beaches and
can be reached by bus or by a 30-minute walk. It lies north of Lipari,
on the island’s eastern coast. Spiaggia Bianca is north of Canneto.
It is named after white sand that was originally found here. Today,
however,the sand is no longer white but grayish. You wont find white
sand anywhere else in the archipelago and most beaches have black
volcanic sand. To reach the beach from Canneto, take the waterfront
road, climb the stairs along Via Marina Garibaldi and then turning
right to go down a narrow cobbled path for 297m. Apart from the beaches,
there is nothing else to do or see in Canneto. |
| Cave
di Pomice |
Pumice is the second biggest industry in the Aeolian Islands
after tourism. Pumice is used vastly – as a building material
to an ingredient in toothpaste. Some visitors like slide down a
pumice chute directly into the waters along the north coast. The
Tiviani brothers used this activity as a scene in their film classic,
Kaos. Buses run north of Canneto, passing the Cave di Pomice at
Campobianco, located between Spiaggia Bianca and Porticello.
Mount Pilato, at 476m, can be viewed from Cave di Pomice. This
is an ancient crater formed after a vocano eruption in 700 AD. The
fields around this crater are the source of pumice. You can walk
to the crater to pass through barren fields locals call Rocce Rosse,
or the red rocks. A path leading to the crater from the northern
tip of Campobianco stretches for 1.2km. |
| Porticello |
Your bus will stop at the village of Porticello. Get off here
for a panoramic view of the other Aeolian Islands such as Alicudi,
Filicudi and Salina. The village also has a beach but it is very
rocky and is not spectacular. |
| Acquacalda |
The island's northernmost town is Acquacalda, or hot water. This
settlement is known for its obsidian and pumice quarries. There
are black sand beaches here but are not very popular as they are
rocky and there is no shade to lie in. Acquacalda is virtually a
one-street town with some snack bars, waterfront dives and a couple
of lackluster trattoria. |
| Quattropani |
The little town of Quattropani lies to the west of Mount Chirica
at 602m. The chief highlight in this is town is a steep climb to
Duomo de Chiesa Baraca for a panoramic view from the grounds of
the church. The distance between Quattropani and Acquacalda is 5km,
and if you choose to cover this distance on foot you can enjoy breathtaking
views that you will miss if you take the bus. |
| Quattrocchi |
Quattrocchi lies 4 km to the west of Lipari town. You can get
there by taking a bus from Marina Lunga. Quattrocchi or four eyes
is a lookout point. At Quattrocchi you can also make the steep climb
to Quattrocchi Belvedere, where you get one of the most panoramic
vistas in the Aeolian Islands. |
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