Punta del Corvo

Punta del Corvo, at 421 metres, is the highest point of Panarea, the smallest of the seven principal Aeolian islands. Its summit is part of the exposed remains of an ancient volcano.

Why it matters

INGV records Punta del Corvo at 421 metres, the island’s maximum elevation; Panarea covers about 3.35 square kilometres. The Corvo lava cone is identified as the oldest part of the island. Panarea is the exposed remnant of a largely submerged stratovolcano, with its lower slopes extending beneath the sea.

What to notice

The eastern ground around San Pietro forms a gently sloping plateau known as the Punte before rising toward the summit cone. Marine terraces up to about 115 metres high mark former sea levels on the volcano’s flanks; Bronze Age settlements were established on these terraces, including the prehistoric village promontory to the south. The islets Basiluzzo, Bottaro, Dattilo, Lisca Bianca and Lisca Nera lie along a submarine ridge trending toward Stromboli.

Context and history

Panarea is the exposed remnant of a stratovolcano more than 23 kilometres in diameter, most of it submerged at depths around 1,000 metres. Much of the island’s growth occurred between about 155,000 and 120,000 years ago. INGV records ongoing subsidence and submarine fumarolic activity east of Panarea; activity intensified during the 2002–03 seismic crisis. The Aeolian Islands were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage property for their record of volcanic island formation and destruction.