Glowing lava, bubbling mud pools, enchanting scenery: The gods created seven islands off the northern coast of Sicily. Each one is very different from the next, but all have a direct line to the underworld. The Aeolian Archipelago, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, is part of a volcanic chain stretching from Mount Vesuvius to Mount Etna. Join us on a trip through the islands, where we encounter fishermen, fire spewers and a pool of stars fallen from the sky.

Clara Rametta’s guardian angel must certainly have its hands full. Why? Because Clara, as everyone on Salina calls her, still drives a car – or at least what’s left of her 20-year-old Suzuki Santana. Inside, the plastic fittings are full of holes; outside, the rust has eaten through the white paint in many places and the tires are so bald they are just crying out to be replaced. “I love my Jeep,” the dynamic 61-year-old protests, revving the engine. With Clara at the wheel, every cat and dog on the streets of Salina had better run for cover because the mother of two drives fast and takes little notice of traffic signs.

Clara runs the Signum hotel in Malfa. She also organizes a caper festival and a film festival, and co-founded the Museum of Emigration in Malfa. “I just can’t sit still,” she explains “I never could as a child, either.”

It’s early morning, and the water laps gently against the quay in Santa Marina Salina as a hydrofoil appears in the distance. These fast boats connect the Aeolian Islands with each other, serving people as buses. But when the weather is bad, they sometimes don’t run for days on end. Luckily, it’s a nice day today. Tourists and local people board, some of them bound for Panarea, the smallest of the main Aeolian Islands, but most are heading for Stromboli, the only active volcano in the archipelago. It actually spits out lava every 20 minutes or so, and you can spot the clouds of smoke above the crater from a long way off.

“We have a lot of respect for Stromboli,” says Domenico Russo, “we know how dangerous it can be.” The 91-year-old is sitting on the terrace of the La Sirenetta hotel, not far from the Dolce & Gabbana estate. Russo experienced the raw force of the volcano when it erupted on September 11, 1930, spewing smoke that turned the sky black, shrouded the island in ash and killed three people.

A new day breaks and we visit a new island: Lipari. Its volcanoes have been dormant for 1300 years, but there’s a bright sparkle in Francesco D’Ambra’s eyes. The blond, curly-headed 54-year-old (stage name Figliodoro, golden son) is sitting in a cafe in the fishing harbor, trying to put his life into words. This is no easy task because it has taken so many twists and turns. As a young man, D’Ambra left Lipari, the largest of the Aeolian Islands, and went to Cannes. He worked as a dishwasher, met Anthony Quinn and began to dream of becoming an actor. Back on Lipari, he set fire to the town hall. “I wanted to protest against injustice,” he explains, “I was a very angry young man.” He was arrested, served his time and on his release, began working as a fisherman – until he started feeling sorry for the fish he caught. After trying all kinds of odd jobs, he opened a barbeque on Praia Vinci beach, but the beach has been closed since 2010, when a couple of tremors caused some rocks to fall.

Lipari awakens slowly. Small shops open up, tourists wander through the narrow, winding streets leading from the old fortress down to the harbor, where the Eolian Star is casting off. Its passengers have booked a tour of the islands: from Lipari to Alicudi and Filicudi, and back to Lipari. Seen from the water, the island looks surprisingly wild. In fact, the entire archipelago has lost none of its rugged charm: everywhere the eye can see, lava rock formations and small houses and towns dotted with cactuses, and orange, lemon and almond trees. No sign of highrise hotels or other architectural sins. That’s because the Aeolian Islands have strict laws stipulating that a new building may only be built on the site of an old one. This is why it’s expensive to buy property on the islands, which have roughly 14000 inhabitants. Not that the islanders were always well off – far from it. Stricken with poverty, thousands packed up and left.

The lives of the the Aeolian islanders (Aeolus was the Greek god of wind), are influenced by the elements – and it shows. “I love the sea, it gives you so much,” says Bartolomeo Greco “if I spend too much time on land I start to feel uncomfortable.” The 43-year-old fisherman and father of three sails his motor boat along the coast toward Vulcano, apart from Stromboli the only active volcano in the archipelago. Thousands of fragments of pumice stone float in the water, washed there by the heavy rainfall several days before. Like the other fishermen here, Greco doesn’t use a dragnet, but the fish in the deep waters around the islands are nevertheless becoming scarce because of the vast quantities of plastic trash and other waste that causes the death of dolphins and sea turtles, in particular. “What I wish for most is for people to respect the sea and to protect it,” says Greco.