Pantelleria
Cossyra for Greeks and Phoenicians. Bint al-grande ariyah (“the daughter of wind”) for Arabs. Pantelleria lies as an indented lava vessel in the heart of the Mediterranean Basin, closer to Tunisia than Sicily.
Strong winds sweep the island for most of the year continually putting inhabitants and farmland to an endurance test. It lacks fresh water, but the soil takes advantage of the rich lava deposits, which make it incredible fertile. It has developed a unique colture in order to safeguard farmlands by the strong squalls of wind blowing with an average speed of over twelve knots.
Pantelleria has a farming nature, rather than a marine one. Vineyards are planted in small ditches, the citrus fruit trees are surrounded by high stone walls, whereas the olive trees are plotted so that their branches almost touch the ground.
Lands cultivated with grapes, vineyards, green woods of maritime pine and Aleppo pine mark the landscapes.
But volcanoes are the absolute protagonists on the island: there are twenty-four “cuddie” or volcanic peaks surrounding the extinct crater of the Montagna Grande (836m), the highest point. Further examples of the volcanic activity are the thermal phenomena: the so called stufe and favare (jets of hot vapor coming out of large cracks and of caves), caldarelle (thermal water springs), buvire (ponds of brackish water) and mofette (puffs of carbonic dioxide) are scattered anywhere on the island.
Pantelleria was inhabited by the mysterious Sesi in the prehistoric period. Then it was colonized by Phoenicians and Carthaginians. It passed under Roman rule in 217BC and was conquered by Arabs in VIII century AC, which ruled the island over 400 years and set up the first plantations of cotton, the olive groves and the vineyards. Under the Normans the island followed the vicissitudes of Sicily.
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