Lipari

Lipari, the largest of the seven Aeolian Islands, tempts with simple pleasures: a sun-soaked afternoon at Ponente Beach channeling the country’s famous dolce far niente, or a stroll along the harborfront, gelato in hand. Settled since 5,000 BC for its gleaming black obsidian, it later became a Carthaginian naval base, fell to the Romans in 252 BC, and then withstood centuries of pirate raids that left the acropolis crowned with towering walls. This history is superbly explained in the Archaeological Museum, found inside the island’s citadel, where fact and artefact come together in one of Italy’s finest collections.