One of several Sicilian ports where the oil business has improved the economy and spoiled the scenery. Relics of antiquity include, on the isthmus of Milazzo, tombs of about 1,250 BC. A crucial sea fight of the Punic wars (260 BC) took place here. In one of these battles the soothsayers advised the Roman admiral not to close with the Carthaginian fleet because the sacred chickens would not eat. ‘Then let them drink,’ he said, and threw them all overboard.

From Milazzo a ferry sails to the Lipari or Aeolian Islands (l½ hours). Lipari itself gets quite crowded with visitors in summer and its small town is rich in archaeology dredged up from the sea. Vulcano, next door, is less interesting. Stromboli, ‘Lighthouse of the Mediterranean’ to old-time mariners, manages to support a population of 400 and receive visitors, despite having one explosively active volcano at 918 m. Its offshore pinnacle, Strombolicchio, offers a stiff climb up rock-cut steps to 43 m for an uninterrupted view of distant horizons. The attractions of the other is kands of the group Alicudi, Filicudi, Panarea, Basiluzzo and Salina – do not compensate for the hassle of travel.