Stromboli at Sunset to 400 m, the Highest a Guide May Take You

Four hundred metres is where this walk stops, and that is not the operator being cautious. It is the maximum altitude a volcanology guide is allowed to take a group to on Stromboli. What you get at that height is the summit craters and the Sciara del Fuoco in front of you, which is most of what people climb for. The group leaves Piazza San Vincenzo two hours before sunset, after a safety briefing. The path is a nature trail. It passes the island's old cemetery and crosses Mediterranean scrub, with Strombolicchio standing out in the water for the whole climb, and there are stops along the way to look at it. At the top the sunset turns the archipelago red, and once it is dark the eruptions do the lighting themselves. The descent is in the dark, with torches, back to the starting point.