Salina

The second largest of the Aeolians, Salina is also the most fertile, which accounts for its excellent Malvasia dessert wine. Salina is the archipelago’s lushest and highest island, too—Mt. Fossa delle Felci rises to more than 3,000 feet and offers a challenging two-hour hike to the summit—and the vineyards and fishing villages along its slopes add to the allure. Pollara, in the west of the island, has capitalized on its fame as one of the locations in the 1990s cult movie Il Postino (The Postman) and is an ideal location for an evening passeggiata on well-maintained paths along the volcanic terrain.