We left Rome looking forward to smaller crowds and a slower pace of life on the Aeolian Islands. We caught an early morning bus up to Termini Station to start our journey south. Nine hours and a couple of delays later we watched our train carriage detach and board a ferry across the Messina strait to Sicily.
We raced from Milazzo train station in an attempt to make the last afternoon ferry, but knew the wind and sea conditions weren’t favourable. The Aeolian Islands are named after Aeolus the God of Wind in Greek mythology, and the winds were blowing! Unfortunately the ferry was cancelled (as were all hydrofoils) and we had to spend the night in Milazzo, which was small and quaint and Amber wasn’t super disappointed about having to stay.
The next morning Amber toddled off to the port to check what, if any, boats were running. Rosie, back at the BnB enjoying her morning coffee and cornetto, soon got an urgent text message to “pack and get down here! The only hyrdrofoil is leaving in 15 minutes!!” While Rosie hurriedly threw everything into the backpacks, Amber proceeded to get lost finding her way back. She found the front door just as Rosie emerged with the bags and we did a hurried jog back to the port.
The scenery arriving into Lipari port was spectacular, it was sunny and calm and we were both excited to get to know our home for the next month or so. We had a coffee on a deck overlooking the water and then got dropped at our BnB up the top of town.
We spent the rest of the day wandering the roads, laneways and ports of Lipari, and stocking our pantry with treats (Tronky bars need a special mention).
The next couple of days were spent getting stuck into the paperwork for Amber’s residency application. All forms are in Italian, and must be completed in Italian, which makes paperwork three times as challenging and time consuming. We did our first recon mission to the Ufficio Anagrafe (kind of like a local council office), the first of many. We confirmed that no English is spoken, and unfortunately our beginner Italian skills are not enough to muddle through the fabled Italian bureaucratic system. Thankfully, there is Google Translate, and we are getting by by pre-typing questions into the app to show the staff and then try to understand their answer (spoken quickly as though we’re native speakers because us not understanding is a “you problem”).
Pianoconte
Amber’s Dad’s family hail from Lipari, and one of their family friends have very generously offered us one of their properties up in the hills of the island. A small hamlet called Pianoconte. We were driven up a very windy road to view the property, drop our big packs, and handover the keys. Instead of going back down the hill to Lipari, Maria insisted we take a tour of the island. We made a stop at a hilltop church in Quattropani, with views to neighbouring islands of Filicudi and Alicudi. We also saw the old pumice quarry operations, which stopped in ~2000 when the islands were granted UNESCO World Heritage status. The grand tour took all of 30 minutes, following the islands one main ring road, which brought us back to our starting point in town.
Life in Pianoconte is slow and peaceful. We have established a morning coffee roster, and make a daily trip into town for groceries, paperwork or to search for the elusive flat white (still looking). Scooter trips are slowly getting less stressful, as Rosie learns where all the pot holes are and finds confidence navigating the blind corners. We have only nearly crashed once. Italy has road rules but no one is very good at following them. They are however very good parallel parkers.
With little to no internet or modern conveniences there is not much to do at the house other than read, listen to the birds, drink coffee, cook or potter around the garden. We are both churning through the e-books (Amber recommends Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo and The In-Between by Christos Tsiolkas). Our pantry has been stocked with some essential non-Italian staples (curry paste, soy sauce, rice) so we can eat some Asian. Italians cook Italian at home and only eat Italian out so tucking into a curry has been a welcome change for the taste buds.
With all paperwork for Ambers residency submitted (finally), we have time for excursions. A short scooter ride down the hill and a 15 minute walk down a steep gully lies our closest beach Spiaggia Valle Muria. With the improving weather, we’ve spent a couple of mornings soaking up the sunshine and dipping our toes into the freezing Tyrrhenian sea. The beach is empty, even by Perth standards.
We also visited the islands Archaeology Museum. The Aeolian Islands are a volcanic island chain that served as a useful port of call for traders and conquerors moving between the different empires around the Mediterranean. The history of what happened here has been neatly preserved by being routinely buried by volcanic eruptions. They had an impressive display of items from the stone age through to bronze age and beyond. There was a whole exhibit dedicated to obsidian which Rosie enjoyed more than Amber. Sadly the Volcanology exhibit was closed.
Canneto
We are currently on an impromptu holiday to the beachside burb’ of Canneto (still on Lipari). We managed to drain our water tank at Pianoconte (due to a dry winter not long showers) and it turned out the island was out of water too. Turning on the tap for town water to refill the tank resulted in nothing. The island gets water delivered on big ships once a week to supplement the small desalination plant and it will be five days before we can start refilling. So here we are at our generous hosts’ other BnB on the beach. We will wait here for the next few days for water and an answer on Amber’s residency. It has much better Wi-Fi so we are able to stream some TV from home and are currently working out how to watch the AFL this weekend.
Great blog don't forget to go and see my Saint, you need to bring some jewellery or they won't let you off the island 😀 😇🤣🤣🥰
Save me a Tronky!