|
It
is absolutely forbidden to climb the crater without the use of a
"Guide"
 The
visitor who comes to the port of Vulcano, can not fail to note the
close contact between the presence of the crater and the town. The
contact is not only physical, linked to a centre that developed on
the slopes of an active crater, but much deeper, spiritual. The
activities of the islanders and their very lives depend on the
volcanic cone, so close but so quiet for more than a century. The
hike to the crater is a walk not to be missed. It makes perceptible
these feelings and allows you to discover a world hardly imaginable.
From Porto Levante, take the road to Piano and on the left after
about 1 Km, there is a path that leads to the crater.
The climb, initially smooth proceed with winding among tall reddish
rocks and plants of broom. The trail becomes more challenging,
irregular and crosses a barren land that leads to a large dark
esplanade. Climb aboard and gradually, as we rises beyond the town,
the scenery and the feelings change significantly while all the
islands are being gradually revealing to the eyes.
It discovers a great island, rich in vegetation, with deep valleys
shaped by the explosions and expanses of fragrant broom, the first
plants to take root on recent volcanic soils.
 The
arrival to the top of the crater gives a flurry of strong feelings
that are renewed even in the soul of those, who, in carrying out
their work, are used to these sensations for many years.
It is hard to imagine, and make even more with words, what we feel
in walking in a narrow path that from one side shows the wide
horizons and the quiet of the sea and of the islands and on the
other the heart of a living mountain that emits smoke, heat and
rumble and builds multicoloured structures of sulphur. The awareness
that in the past from the bottom of the crater, where the "cap" is
found, had been unleashed the forces of nature that can change the
shapes of the landscape, urges respect and fear for this place
pulsating with life.
Dott. Franco
Italiano
Volcanologist |
