Culture and tradition are one of the essential features of the island identity. Legacies of a past consisting of domination, business, migration and tourism are preserved today within the museums across the area.

The history of settlement is fully documented in the Santa Marina Civic Museum, formed of three separate buildings, each devoted to a different historical period. At Malfa, there is the Museum of Emigration, which holds the records of the exodus events characteristic of the Aeolian islands since the end of the 18th through to halfway through the 20th century. The body of traditions and trades is still kept alive in the patronal feasts, festivals and religious celebrations in which the whole community, as well as visitors to the island, take part every year.

There are many cultural events these days staged on the island. The island, as a paradise of sustainable tourism, hosts the Salina Isola Slow event, promoting the wine and food traditions of the region. The most renowned festival is certainly the Salina Doc Fest, a social involvement event which promotes the rebirth of narrative documentary.

Salina to savour

Culinary specialities

Salina is the ideal place to savour the Aeolian culinary specialities. The wine and food range is yet more varied. Across the whole region, there are countless places to try the traditional dishes and local wines. Aeolian cookery, resulting from a succession of varied conquests and cultures, is characterised by its contrasting flavours, used in harmony to create unique dishes.

Among the region's specialities, the Salina caper deserves special mention, a protected Slow Food and essential ingredient in traditional delicacies. Another excellent product from the area is Malvasia, a fortified wine obtained by fermenting the grape of the same name after being left to dry in the sun for about two weeks.

The best possible granita ices can be tasted in the island’s bars, among which are those made from figs, or Indian figs. Whether for lunch or dinner, there are numerous restaurants where you can taste fresh-caught fish dishes, or the typical pane cunzato, a flatbread, seasoned on top with local products. Every venue provides its own specialities, but all united by one underlying principle: quality.

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Traditional architecture

Typical Aeolian houses

The island's architecture has not changed significantly in style over time. It is strongly influenced by the various dominant cultures of the past, especially that of Campania, and further back by the Graeco-Roman and Islamic civilisations. Typical dwellings are made of cube elements on the ground floor, in modular form.

The distinctive features of these dwellings are the wide terrace (bagghiu), covered by a pergola resting on columns (pulera). The pulera are generally linked together by wall seats (bisuoli), covered in polychrome majolica tiles. Outside the houses there are still often found the old cisterns for collecting rainwater, wall ovens, and in some cases also the millstones in which the grape would be crushed in former times..

As the middle classes came to some of the urban centres, some two-storey buildings were erected in the past. Some of the finest examples of these more notable buildings are found in the main street of the town of Santa Marina. There are, on the other hand, some examples of liberty architecture in Leni, among the small villas in the centre of the district.

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