Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. This name is a corruption of the Ancient Greek name Strongulē which was given to it because of its round swelling form. The island’s population is between 400 and 850. The volcano has erupted many times, and is constantly active with minor eruptions, often visible from many points on the island and from the surrounding sea, giving rise to the island’s nickname “Lighthouse of the Mediterranean”. The last major eruption was on April 13, 2009. Stromboli stands 926 m (3,034 ft) above sea level, but actually rises over 2,000 m (6,500 ft) above the sea floor. There are three active craters at the peak. A significant geological feature of the volcano is the Sciara del Fuoco (“Stream of fire”), a big horseshoe-shaped depression generated in the last 13,000 years by several collapses on the northwestern side of the cone. Two kilometres to the northeast lies Strombolicchio, the volcanic plug remnant of the original volcano.
Mt Stromboli has been in almost one continuous eruption for the past 20,000 years. This pattern of eruption has been maintained, in which explosions occur at the summit craters with mild to moderate eruptions of incandescent volcanic bombs at intervals ranging from minutes to hours. This characteristic Strombolian eruption, as it is known, is also observed at other volcanoes worldwide. Eruptions from the summit craters typically result in a few second-lasting mild energetic bursts emitting ash, incandescent lava fragments and lithic blocks up to a few hundred metres in height. Stromboli’s activity is almost exclusively explosive, but lava flows do occur at times: an effusive eruption in 2002 was its first in 17 years.
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'View of Lipari and Stromboli', 1778 by Jacob Philipp Hackert
The mildly explosive eruptions are also occasionally punctuated by much larger eruptions. The largest eruption of the last hundred years occurred in 1930, and resulted in the deaths of several people and the destruction of a number of houses by flying volcanic bombs. Large eruptions occur at intervals of years to decades, and the most recent large eruption began in 2002, causing the closure of the island to non-residents for several months. The eruption started with a lava flow (29 December 2002) along the “Sciara del Fuoco” flank that rapidly reached the sea. On 30 December 2002, a huge volume of rocks collapsed from the “Sciara del Fuoco” generating at least two landslides and many tsunami waves. The highest wave was 10 m high and caused serious damage at the Stromboli village. On 5 April 2003, a strong explosion from the summit crater ejected rocks that reached Ginostra village, damaging some houses. The eruption terminated in July 2003.
