Left: Crater of Vulcano by J Houel, Hermitage Museum. Houel travelled to Sicily and the Aeolian islands between 1776 and 1779. Right: picture of the crater – 30th November 2016, looking towards the north. Assent on the crater is not difficult and as Smythe (1824) noted ‘even an invalid can climb it’. However the active fumaroles on the top create an intensely toxic environment. Lipari island is visible beyond the crater in the distance and also the twin peaks of Salina (called Didyme, by the Greeks). © The Vulcano Project