The history of the Aeolian Islands coincides with the history of Lipari, a story as ancient as fascinating, of the roots that link these places to ancient civilizations, civilizations that have cradled the poetic mythological tradition. Its past has very ancient origins and tells a tumultuous story of conquests and raids by peoples who understood the strategic and commercial importance of this island.
It is said that the city of Lipari was built before the war of Troy, by Liparo. The mythology says that Odysseus, on his journey back to his beloved Ithaca, landed on the island while staying at the court of Aeolus. The population of the island can be defined, from the Neolithic age until the III millennium BC, varied and, we dare to say, multi-ethnic, since it was populated by groups coming from Sicily, Greece, Campania and neighboring areas.
The first human settlements in the Aeolian islands date back to the 5th millennium BC, populations from Sicily, on board rudimentary and fragile boats , were attracted by the presence of large quantities of obsidian, a glass volcanic rock, black and shiny, from which were derived, at the time, tools of various kinds and use. The obsidian was the raw material present in the Aeolian territory that guaranteed a high earning potential and economic success. These populations settled, initially, on the plateau of the old castellano di Lipari and near Rinicedda, in Salina. The peak of trade can be traced back to the Upper Neolithic, when the sale of obsidian took on characteristics of extreme economic importance; Lipari thus became one of the most populous settlements in the Mediterranean. Historical findings throughout Italy, France and Dalmatia, make it clear how the obsidian of Lipari represented an innovative tool for the construction of tools until being exported thousands of kilometers away.
With the advent of the Bronze Age, new ethnic groups arrive in Lipari and the Aeolian Islands, bringing, certainly, a valuable cultural and handicraft wind. The populations which have been added to the existing population in the course of history have guaranteed a considerable degree of innovation in the economic and civil sector. The economic revival and the commercial exchange activities certainly favored contacts with new peoples, in fact we remember the regular contacts had with Micaenian Greece. It was from here that the islands got their name of “Aeolian Islands”, from the Greek-Micaean wind-race populations, from the legends reported on the mythical king Aeolus, lord of the winds, mentioned in Homer’s magna opera, the Odyssey.
Homer, in recounting the events of Odysseus, described the god Aeolus as a fair and hospitable king who granted the hero the otre of the winds to facilitate his return to Ithaca. The archipelago was under enormous pressure from the peoples who understood the strategic importance of the site so much that due to the numerous invasions it remained almost uninhabited since 900 BC. In conjunction with the fiftieth Olympiad (end of the sixth century BC), the Aeolian Islands were colonized by Greeks of Dorica descent, following a serious defeat at Marsala by the Elimi. These peoples landed in the Aeolian islands, in an attempt to defend themselves from the attacks of Phoenician and Etruscan pirates, formed a powerful fleet capable of defeating and plundering enemies.
Some sources describe how the initial defensive vocation of these peoples turned, with the awareness of the strength of their fleet, into piracy. It seems that the same Lyparese reached and sacked a Roman fleet containing a precious cargo as an offering to the god Apollo destined for Delphi, but was returned by the magistrate of the time out of devotion to the God himself. The Etruscan threat ceased with the defeat of Cuma, by the Dorian peoples settled in Syracuse, this allowed to plant inhabited nuclei of agricultural character in the other islands of the archipelago. In conjunction with the first Athenian expedition to Sicily, the Lypareses around 427 B.C. made an alliance with the Syracusans, probably due to their common Doric origin.
In the early years of the IV century B.C. Lipari was occupied by the Carthaginians who made the island one of their best naval stations, thanks to the excellent ports and the strategic position it enjoyed. For about a century, the relations with Syracuse created a solid political condition that ended with the defeat by the Romans in the first Punic war.
Lipari allied with the Carthaginians, suffered repeated attacks by the Roman fleet. This episode already presages the fate of the island of Lipari: it was subdued by the Romans in 252 A.D. by the consul Gaius Aurelius. During the civil war, Lipari was conquered between 37 and 36 B.C. by Octavian against Sextus Pompey, and the partisans of Pompey were exiled to Campania. The island began to prosper again and entered into the orbit of Syracuse and then of Rome, which also promoted Lipari as a spa. During the civil war between Octavian, who reigned on the peninsula, and Sextus Pompey, master of Sicily, the Aeolian Islands assumed a considerable strategic importance, suffering a fortification by the latter.
Only a year later, in 36 BC, the defeat of Pompey takes place in the waters of Cape Peloro near the north-eastern corner of Sicily. The history of the Roman period is lacking, there are very few information to date, we only know that the emperor Caracalla after killing his father-in-law he imprisoned his wife and brother-in-law in Lipari. After the Roman period, Lipari was probably a bishop’s seat and a destination for hermits seeking refuge under Byzantine domination. Parallel to the enormous difficulties caused by the eruptions, Lipari had to face the Arab invasions that, in 839 BC, razed the island to the ground, forcing the population to a slavery existence. After the long and dark period, caused by the Arab and Byzantine domination, Lipari again had a golden period thanks to the Norman domination that repopulated the island fortifying the castle. Under the banner of the Grand Count Ruggero, it is returned to the Christian faith with the foundation, in 1083, of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to S. Bartolomeo, still in excellent condition.
In 1091, by a decree of Pope Urban II, the islands became a feud of the monastery. The then abbot, with the intention of repopulating the archipelago, decided to grant the inhabitants and their heirs the property of the land they cultivated. The peace so longed for and sought was eroded, in 1544, by the pirate Barbarossa who, allied with the French, launched a fleet of 150 ships, a blow burning houses, the cathedral and forcing into slavery the entire population that, At the time, there were about 8000.
The great dismay of Charles V, ruler of Naples, led him to build a more imposing wall, favoring the repopulation through tax exemptions. Despite the efforts of the sovereign of Naples, the concern of the inhabitants for the numerous raids lasted until the disappearance of the Turkish piracy around 1700. At the end of the eighteenth century, Lipari followed the fate of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until our times. At the beginning of the 19th century, Lipari became the mandatory port of call for several maritime lines.