Even before seeing it, you are captured by its presence. An acrid, pungent odor which stuns your senses, quickens your breath and burns your lungs. This is because Vulcano, the island closest to the coast of the mother island, Sicily, is a large crater emitting gas, belches forth sulphureous miasmas, boils the sea like a large cauldron, scorches the beaches until they become carbon dust, and melts away rage in its muds and hot thermal waters. Born of the fury of four volcanoes – Lentia, Vulcano del Piano, La Fossa and Vulcanello – the island contains, along with Stromboli, one of the two active volcanoes of the archipelago. A feisty mountain, intermittently exploding and then silent, like a mischievous child. A totally unpredictable phenomenon which experts keep under constant strict surveillance. This immediately captures the eye as you land on the island. Here everything - towns, hotels and villas - lies at the foot of the Great Crater which formed during the eruption of 183 AD.

From the jetty in Porto di Levante you immediately notice the two rocky stacks of the island, Faraglione Grande, with a height of 56 metres, and Faraglione Piccolo (36 m), below which are the thermal springs known for the therapeutic properties of their muds and the sea, heated by a multitude of natural fumaroles. The stacks, ancient volcanic cones, were once used as mines to extract alum and sulphur. It is here that the geo-mineral area is found, one of the most interesting of the island. Coming from the port on the right, at the foot of what remains of Faraglione Piccolo, is the great pool, a reservoir brimming with water and sulphureous muds. A small beach extends nearby; here the sea is dotted with submerged fumaroles: careful though, the gas is hot and near the steam vents the water reaches very high temperatures.

The famous black beach is also found in the bay of Porto di Levante, a strip of dark powder considered to be among the most suggestive of the whole Mediterranean. Boats depart from here to the pool of Venus. Continuing along the coast northwards for about 1 kilometre, you reach the isthmus connecting Vulcano with Vulcanello, a small peninsula barely a few metres above sea level, thereby creating a humid area populated by herons and egrets. From here you can walk in just a few minutes to one of the most fascinating areas of the island, the valley of monsters.

Returning to Porto di Levante and following the asphalt road in the direction of Il Piano, after about a hundred metres turn into a narrow road which soon becomes a path. It is here where the finest walking trail of the island begins and leads to the volcano's crater. It is a narrow cattle track which zigzags up to the crater plateau and then continues along its rim. A spot resembling the entrance to hell, covered in the yellow grains of sulphur, and dotted with small fumaroles which spewing forth vapors. This path takes you to the top of the volcano, at a quota of 391 metres above sea level: the view from here is superb and extends to the Bocche di Vulcano, the strait separating the island from Lipari. Continuing along the perimeter of the crater you will find large elongated rocks full of crevices and resembling gigantic loaves of bread: these are the breadcrust bombs, bullets fired by the volcano during its last great eruption. Following the path in the other direction and returning to the asphalt road, you reach Il Piano, the most ancient part of the island. Here pause for lunch at Da Maria Tindara, a small inn where you can sample the house specialty: freshly-made tagliatelle pasta "alla vulcanara", very tasty and spicy.

The wildest and most austere part of the island, forgotten by man, and dominated by nature, extends southwards from here, including peaks with fairytale names – Sciara dell'Orso, Timpone del Corvo and Monte Aria. The Troglodyte Grottos are artificial cavities excavated during the Bronze Age as burial sites: the ancient inhabitants of the Aeolian Islands buried their dead near the volcano which they believed the road linking the worlds of the living and the dead. Continuing south leads to the sea and the small village of Gelso, a handful of houses huddled around the new lighthouse.

We return to Porto di Ponente, close to Porto di Levante, for overnight at Hotel Les Sables Noirs. Overlooking the celebrated Ponente bay and with its superb black beach, it is frequented by the international jet set and offers beautiful, spacious rooms. The hotel also has a rather well known restaurant with a wonderful panoramic terrace. Here you could try a delicate tuna paté, sword fish, seafood risotto, casarecce pasta with eggplant and mint or stuffed sea bass. After dinner entertainment at Cantine Stevenson, an elegant and refined nightspot where you can sip on cocktails as you listen to live music.

Leaving Vulcano is like abandoning an inferno for a soft and relaxed purgatory. Stretched languidly along the sea like provocative bather, the town of Lipari is the only real town on the entire archipelago. It is a whirlwind of roads which extend downwards towards the two opposing natural harbours, Marina Lunga in the north and Marina Corta in the south, opening out into small squares then constricting into the tiny castrum which forms the historic town. Arriving from the sea, the island of Lipari, the largest and most populated of the Aeolian islands, immediately reveals its tiny capital, as if to remind you that she is the heart of the archipelago also known as the "Lipari islands".

As you disembark from the hydrofoil you will find yourself immediately in the small Piazza Ugo Sant'Onofrio, facing the Marina Corta harbour, one of the most frequented meeting places on the island. Here on the ground floor of the 19th century houses framing the square there are bustling open-air restaurants, bars, and ice cream shops. Behind the square, the old town is bordered by four wide streets – Via Vittorio Emanuele, Via Garibaldi, Via Roma and Via XXIV Maggio – and is closed to traffic in the summer. Wandering the narrow roads you will find shops selling antiques, local crafts and wine and food specialities. However, the most interesting part of the town is the Rocca del Castello which dominates the town and houses the Aeolian Archaeological Museum.

Leaving the town and taking the road west to Pianoconte, the small village of San Salvatore can be seen in the distance; here you can admire a number of restored typical Aeolian houses. A further brief stretch leads to the Quattrocchi belvedere offering one of the best views of the Aeolian Islands with San Jacopo cape is in the foreground, with the stacks and outline of Vulcano behind. 3 kilometres more and you reach the old thermal springs of San Calogero. Continuing along the main road for about a kilometre there is Pianoconte, a fertile and elevated area where the first inhabitants of Lipari settled. Here you can stop for lunch at La Ginestra, a tranquil little restaurant offering the best of typical Aeolian cuisine.

Return to the provincial road and after another 5 kilometres you will reach the small agricultural village of Quattropani where most of the island's vegetables are still produced. The 17th century church, also known as the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Catena, is in a dominant position above the town. A short flight of steps leads to the panoramic terrace where you can admire all the islands of the archipelago except Vulcano. Leaving Quatrropani, a couple of hairpin bends will lead to the coast and Acquacalda, established to house miners of the nearby pumice quarries. Pumice was once one of the riches of the island. From here follow the northern coast until just beyond the Castagna cape, in front of the island of Panarea, to reach Porticello. En route you can still admire the wharfs used to load ships with the porous mineral extracted from Monte Pilato. Beyond Cape Rosso, the area of the pumice quarries begins. This mineral also dominates the landscape of the two beautiful beaches, that of Papesca, where there are still ruins from the mining infrastructures, and the Bianca beach, a spectacular expanse of pumice ending in a turquoise colored sea slightly north of the small town of Canneto.

You cannot leave Lipari without first taking a table at the best known restaurant of the archipelago, Filippino (tel. 090.9811002). Opened in 1910, it offers true speciality dishes such as the antipasto of Lipari prepared with vegetables preserved in oil, local capers and pecorino cheese, or paddlefish turbans with basil. First courses include the borlotti bean soup with sardines and wild fennel and the 'maccaruna alla Filippetto'; as second course try the Aeolian lobster in caper sauce and swordfish steak marinated with herbs. After dinner, for those seeking an evening entertainment, the choices are varied. The typical meeting point is the animated little square of Marina Corta, full of bars and nightspots. Here you could try the Chitarra Bar (tel. 090.9811554), boasting Lucio Dalla amongst its frequent guests and where there is always live music. The Kasbah Cafè (tel. 090.9811075) also offers live music, its tables set in a splendid garden, and La Precchia (tel. 090.9811303), a bar opened only recently but already a cult centre. Overnight accomodation may be found at Hotel Villa Meligunis: 32 rooms derived from an 18th century villa restructured with a beautiful panoramic terrace overlooking Marina Corta.

Seen from the sea, before even approaching the bay of the small harbour of Rinella, Salina seems aloof. It feels different to its six sisters: tall, her head in the clouds, or bent among the ferns, chestnut woods and vineyards to tend the earth. A land with a perfume not of salt and sulphur, but of the countryside, of prickly pears, grapes dried in the sun, and of vegetables where the dew is not so scarce. She does not have a close relationship with the sea - only a few beaches with large, black pebbles and a single stretch of sand thinned by the waves year after year. The homes are nestled higher up in the fresher valleys lying around the two major extinct volcanoes - Monte Fossa delle Felci and Monte dei Porri - or on the plateaus guarded by cliffs. As the second largest island of the Aeolian archipelago, Salina is the greenest, highest in altitude and richest in fresh water.

The feeling becomes even stronger as you land. Rinella is little more than a handful of houses above the harbour. Behind the jetty and beach, the rock seems to have been attacked by strange rodents, leaving it consumed, full of holes: these are the grottoes dug by fishermen to provide shelter for their boats. The harbour lengthens into a narrow winding road, as if the houses wanted to immediately gain ground. Leaving behind the sea, the island recovers its breath and after a few wide bends we see the house-dotted landscape of Leni, the first island municipality. Here, Salina has always made its distance from the other islands felt: it is the only one of the smaller Aeolian islands to have independent municipalities – as well as Lena there are Malfa and Santa Maria Salina – not classed as districts of Lipari. Opening before us is Valdichiesa, the fertile valley separating the two volcanoes, planted with vines and capers. Beyond Leni, the road winds for almost a further 9 kilometres before reaching the Barbanacoli fork, where we take a left to in the direction of Pollara.

Following this steep asphalt ribbon we reach Semaforo, 283 metres above sea level: from here is a superb panorama over the nearby islands of Alicudi and Filicudi. The road then dips suddenly to dive into the arms of Pollara. White and low-lying, surrounded by the green of the vines and vegetable gardens, the house of this area seem just like those of a tranquil country village, at least until you reach the edge of the cliff. Just glancing along the sheer walls, in layers like an enormous millefeuille, you realize you are in the midst of an ancient catastrophe. Pollara lies at the hear of a crater that erupted 13,000 years ago sinking slowly into the sea. The remains of the crater are the immense amphitheatre in tufa stone, a strip of black sand and a solitary stack. The splendid bay, one of the most beautiful in the entire archipelago, protects another small treasure: the house of Pablo, that of the film Il Postino, belonged to the poet Neruda.

Back at the Barbanacoli fork, take the right hand road this time to reach Malfa. The basin in which the village is located is the heart of the island's agricultural production, full of vineyards, vegetable gardens and orchards. The road follows the coast northwards and beyond Capo Faro to descend south to Santa Maria Salina. The most lively centre on the island, Santa Maria has excellent restaurants such as Portobello, where you could stop for lunch. Its cuisine is simple yet includes a number of decidedly original dishes.

Santa Maria Salina is the only municipality on the island linked more to the sea than to the land. From here ship sailed laden with malvasia and capers; arriving here today are ferries and hydrofoils, stopping also at Rinella and Malfa. And it is also the best departure point for a boat trip around the island. The classic Salina excursion starts from Lingua, the excursion to Monte Fossa delle Felci. In Lingua, also, the light pumice pebbles arrive from Lipari to colour grey the beaches of the old salt deposits from which the island takes its name. In fact, behind the stretches of large pebbles lies a salt lake. Closed from the sea, the lake is triangular in shape, just a few metres deep and covers a surface area of 32,000 square metres. Salt was worked here at one time (salt production here dates back even to the Hellenic period) and bearing witness to this ancient trade there are buildings from the 1st and 2nd centuries BC, the salt reservoirs and a small museum, the Lingua Civic Museum, dedicated to island culture. Today this humid area is an inestimable micro-environment, the spring and autumn resting place for hundreds of birds, the last emigrants of the Aeolian islands.

For dinner based on local specialities you should return to Santa Maria Salina and reserve a table at the restaurant Cafe 'nni Lausta. Here the creative chef Fabio Giuffrè offers classic dishes re-interpreted with a creative touch. Not to be missed the eggplant parmigiana with fish and courgettes, tuna escalope coated in sesame seads, tuna tartare with wild fennel and Tropea onion and the delicious yoghurt ice cream with warm lemon marmellade. Also highly popular for post-dinner entertainment until the early hours - numerous brightly colored cocktails are served accompanied by capers and snacks. For overnight we instead return to La Malfa where there is one of the most original hotels of Salina, Hotel Signuml. Buildt to local architectural dictates it has thirty rooms distributed through several buildings: each room a home in itself.