Salina Island
Encyclopedia
Aeolian Islands
The Aeolian Islands or Lipari Islands are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus. The locals residing on the islands are known as Eolians . The Aeolian Islands are a popular tourist destination in the summer, and attract up to...
north of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. It is the second largest island in the archipelago.
Salina is divided between three comuni
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
: Santa Marina
Santa Marina Salina
Santa Marina Salina is a comune and one of the main towns on Salina, one of the Aeolian Islands. It is situated in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about 140 km northeast of Palermo and about 70 km northwest of Messina...
on the eastern coast, Malfa
Malfa
Malfa is a comune on the island of Salina, one of the islands of Isole Eolie also known in the English language as Aeolian Islands, in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about 140 km northeast of Palermo and about 80 km northwest of Messina. Malfa derived its...
to the north, and Leni
Leni
Leni is a comune and one of the main towns on Salina, one of the Aeolian Islands. It is situated in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about 140 km northeast of Palermo and about 70 km northwest of Messina...
to the south-west. From Leni down towards the sea are the villages of Valdichiesa and Rinella. The other smaller villages are Capo Faro, Pollara and Lingua.
There are currently approximately 4,000 residents living on the island.
Geography
Salina has a total surface area of 27 km². It is included on the World Heritage List especially because of its worth for vulcanology. It is composed of six volcanoes: the oldest ones are at Pizzo di Corvo, Monte Rivi and close to Capo Faro, although these are barely recognisable from a morphological point of view, while the volcano-layer of Monte Fossa delle Felci (968 m, the highest peak in the archipelago) and Monte dei Porri 886 m) are almost perfectly preserved: the latter's crater lies just above sea levelAbove mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
near the small village of Pollara.
The most recent eruption on Salina occurred on the western part of the island about 13,000 years ago and formed the semi-circular crater of Pollara; its activity was mainly explosive and produced large pumice deposits.
All that remains of the endogenic activities are some post-volcanic phenomena called “gurgling” and a thermal spring at Pertuso. The gurgling phenomena are at Rinella and are basically caused by the emission of underwater gas (hydrogen sulphate) and vapours. When this phenomenon is at its most active it can lift the sea-bed.
Vegetation
From a distance, Salina looks entirely green with two rounded high mountains and a smooth coastline. More than 400 different types of plants grow here. The cultivation of grapes, olives and capers are basically a rite.Salina was the first among the Aeolian island to protect its environment with a natural preserve, known as the Riserva Naturale del Fossa delle Felci e dei Porri.
The mountainsides of the island are covered with ferns, poplars, chestnut trees and typical Mediterranean vegetation covered with caper
Caper
Capparis spinosa, the caper bush, is a perennial winter-deciduous species that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers. A caper is also the pickled bud of this plant...
bushes, prickly pear cactus
Opuntia
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...
and a variety of orchards, olive groves and vineyards. Above all, there is Malvasia, a famous white wine that is only produced on Salina. Malvasia
Malvasia
Malvasia is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean region, Balearic islands, Canary Islands and the island of Madeira, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world...
is golden in colour and has an intense, delicately sweet bouquet. There has also been a local revival of the production of superior-quality low-acid olive oil.
History
A Greek settlement, from the fourth century BC through to the times of Imperial Rome, once lay on the modern-day site of the small town of Santa Marina. A number of tombs from this era have been discovered further inland. Several traces of Greek and Roman culture have been found on the island.In the Hellenic Age
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
, the island was named "Didyme" (Δίδυμη), a Greek name which refers to the two mountains as "twins". The island was inhabited as far back as the Bronze Age and has been developed and then abandoned many times over the subsequent millennia.
In 1544, when Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
declared war on France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, king Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
asked the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Suleiman
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
for help. The latter sent a fleet headed by Khair ad Din (also known as Barbarossa) who was victorious over the Spaniards, and managed to retake Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
from them. In the course of the battle, the Eeolian Islands were depopulated. Later, former citizens that had been ransomed in Messina and immigrants from mainland Italy, Sicily and Spain re-established communities on Salina.
Areas on the island, including the two mountain peaks, were designated as a natural reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
in 1981.
Main sights
- The salt lake in Lingua was once a site for production of sea saltSea saltSea salt, salt obtained by the evaporation of seawater, is used in cooking and cosmetics. It is historically called bay salt or solar salt...
, hence the name Salina ("salt mill" in Italian). - On the slopes of the Fossa, several Roman tombs have been excavated.
- Sanctuary of the Madonna del Terzito, located between Malfa and Leni in the saddle known as Valdichiesa between the twin volcanoes, and built in 1630. The religious centre of Salina, it attracts pilgrims on the main feast day of July 23 every year.
In the 18th century the ruins of a typical Imperial Roman villa were noted here but have since sunk into the ground.
Events
There is an annual Caper Festival held on Salina during the first week of June every year.The first week in October is the Eolian Food and Wine week.
There is the SalinaDocFest, an International Festival on Narrative Documentary that takes place in Salina every year since 2007.
Transportation
Salina has two ports, Santa Marina and Rinella, served by ferries and hydrofoils from Hydrofoil service is active from Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria, Messina and Milazzo.There is a regular bus service connecting all the villages on the island. A main road connects Lingua, Santa Marina, Malfa and Pollara and a side road runs between the two volcanoes to Leni and Rinella.