Guide to ALICUDI ISLAND | AEOLIAN ISLANDS

Alicudi has an area of 5.2 square kilometers, and was once known as Ericusa, since it was rich of Erica. It is the westernmost in the archipelago, about 34 nautical miles west of Lipari. Dominated by the Filo dell'Arpa mount, an almost perfectly circular, extinct volcano of 5 square kilometers, the island is characterized by rugged, steep cliffs that plunge into the sea to a depth of 1,500 meters and rise up to 675 meters.

It is inhabited only along the eastern coast by about a hundred people. Even today you can see the terracings created by agricultural activities of past centuries; the island is covered with a very beautiful vegetation of agaves, prickly pears, capers, red bougainvilleas, roses, violets, oranges and heathers. Fishing, instead, did not develop much due to the presence of pirates and raiders in those waters. The sea is only accessible through small pebble beaches. Today the main products of the island are olives, grapes, capers and fish.

Getting around THE ISLAND OF ALICUDI

With no electricity and no engines, the only transport around this Italian island is donkey "taxi" -- and they're essential. There are no paved streets, just 25 kilometers of mule tracks winding around the island and no fewer than 10,000 steps up and down layers of whitewashed dwellings.

Alicudi, the farthest and wildest of the Aeolian Islands, offers a no-frill, zero sound-pollution break amid turquoise waters and silent beaches.

Visitors should bring cash as there are no banks. There's a tiny supermarket and news stand, but no other shops and nowhere to buy cigarettes, not that anyone should be smoking and tackling all those stairs.

Getting there: from Messina there is daily ferry routes. Naples is linked by high-speed boat.

Eating: Restaurant Ericusa (Via R. Elena; +39 0909889902) serves traditional dishes like spaghetti with caper cream.

Where to stay: Casa Hibiscus Resort (+39 3409207605) is an Aeolian-style villa with seafront terrace. Alicudi (Italy)