ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Aeolian islands of Italy, an archipelago of volcanic origins, a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site, and a place of great interest for Mediterranean archaeology. It attempts to find lines of continuity in a history characterized by consecutive waves of prosperity and abandonment, due to the risk posed by the intensely active volcanoes, combined with the opportunities or threats within changing Mediterranean networks. I examine social and economic histories of the islands Lipari and Salina alongside narratives and myths about wind and fire. After the nineteenth century, travelogues and representations contributed to a romantic and scientific appreciation of the volcanic landscape. The following tourism boom resulted in a persisting narrative of loss and rupture in the long-standing relationships of people with nature. The unregulated spatial change it prompted, in the governance context of the Italian Mezzogiorno, created the need for a strong heritage planning framework. The chapter argues that today, action and inaction towards sustainability, exemplified by the energy transition, relate to this clash between strong planning and a culture of potentially unsustainable informality in landscape-making.
