Should I stay or should I go? 6000 years of human presence and abandonments at Stromboli volcano and an overview on the whole Aeolian Archipelago (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

Abstract

T The paper addresses the long-lasting human presence on the island of Stromboli, an active volcano at the northern edge of the Aeolian archipelago, in the Southern Tyrrhenian sea, Italy. A conceptual model has been built to explore the phenomenon, it takes into account a series of aspects comparing Stromboli to other islands: their morphology, natural resources and geography along with the archaeological and historical data and, further, human attitude to volcanic environments, to risk and to insularity has been deeply explored. We propose a complex narrative where a combination of geological, socio-economic, historical, and psychological factors influenced people’s choices and that human presence is related more to the volcanic (and island) environment (and opportunities) than to volcanic activity.

The Affective Mediascapes of Chinese Island Abandonment

“…Subsequently, the island was rapidly and repeatedly abandoned due to both the physical impacts of the volcano and perceptions of environmental insecurity during the Middle Ages. Arguably, people's choice to stay on or leave the island may have been related more to the perceptions of volcanic risk rather than volcanic activity itself (Di Renzoni et al, 2021). In the words of Joseph Brodsky, "Geography provokes history" (Rosi et al, 2019: 8).…”