Mount Stromboli

Stromboli rises from the Tyrrhenian Sea among the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily. Its near-continuous volcanic activity has long made the island visible from the sea, earning it the name “Lighthouse of the Mediterranean.” In October 1768 an eruption produced a lava flow and set vegetation alight; another eruption was recorded in 1770. The naturalist Lazzaro Spallanzani observed Stromboli during his travels in 1788. The steep volcanic island and its settlements depended on sea connections with Sicily and the other Aeolian Islands, even as the active summit remained a prominent and sometimes dangerous feature of their surroundings.