An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Stromboli

 

Part of my 2020 odyssey that didn't work out was to sail past the Aeolian Islands, the source of a bit of a problem that Odysseus had with winds. 

My boat from Messina in Sicily to Salerno on the west coast of Italy was cancelled at the last moment due to "technical difficulties". I suspect these may actually have been difficulties in selling enough tickets to make the journey worthwhile, since on many stages of my late-summer journey I was the only foreign traveller.

Whatever the reason, I was forced into a Plan B that took me by train from Villa San Giovanni, at the toe of Italy, north to Naples (see this blog An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague – 10: 8-14 September 2020).

There are seven main Aeolian Islands and I have it in mind to visit them all as part of my next trip – maybe even in this second year of the plague.

The best known of these volcanic islands are Stromboli and Vulcano. The latter hasn't erupted for over a century; but the former is far from dormant and erupts several times an hour.

If I make it to the Aeolians from Sicily, Vulcano will be my first stop and Stromboli will be my last. From there it is possible to take a boat to Naples.

Stromboli and Vulcano are also the names of two highly dramatic Italian movies from 1950 – and the story of how they came to be made is itself packed with high drama.

Stromboli is the better known of the two, not least because it gave birth to a scandalous affair between director Roberto Rossellini and his star, Ingrid Bergman. Rossellini's spurned lover, actress Anna Magnani, was furious; and while the Bergman movie was filmed on Stromboli itself, Magnani starred in her own volcano-themed movie, Vulcano, actually filmed on another Aeolian island, Salina.

So the rival explosive movies, starring the rival actresses, were filmed at the same time, on islands just a few miles apart.

It's a story that Homer could probably have done something with...