For years I had heard about Pantelleria, a rocky, inaccessible paradise of remoteness and serenity 89 miles southwest of Sicily and about 50 miles east of Tunisia. Luca Guadagnino's 2015 film “A Bigger Splash” painted an enchanting idyll of mud baths, romantic ruins and secluded swimming beaches. Celebrities like Madonna, Sting and Julia Roberts have visited, drawn by the striking African-Italian atmosphere, as well as Giorgio Armani, who has lived on the island part-time since 1980. The fact that no one was impressed by them only added to its charm.
“We always tell newcomers that you'll either love it or hate it,” says Ciassia Gambaccini, a fashion stylist who has owned a vacation home on the island for 33 years. “This is not Capri. There's no Chanel. There are no luxury resort hotels. There's always wind. The beauty is in the slow pace and the rugged landscape.”
The lack of white-sand beaches is treated as a badge of honor: locals haul their gear over the jagged lava rocks that line the shore and plunge into the turquoise waters, and the old-fashioned pastry shops and dingy olive stalls in the town of Scauri give it a Godfather-like charm.
And the wind is, well, part of the package: as the locals will say, nature rules here and when the sirocco blows, you have no choice but to go with the flow.
Fragrant, otherworldly scenery
Thousands of years ago, farmers on the rocky, windswept, and waterless island of Pantelleria developed ways to grow crops.
They built terraced walls out of porous lava to keep out the wind and allow dew to hydrate their fruits and vegetables. These steep terraces undulate across the island, giving the lava cliffs a pristine texture. Lava rock dwellings called damshi can be found everywhere, creating an otherworldly landscape.
Pantelleria's topography changes dramatically as you travel across the 32-square-mile island. Driving along narrow highways and unpaved side roads, the scenery changes from lush caldera-fed valleys to barren plateaus teeming with Mediterranean scrub, to hilltop villages drenched in pink bougainvillea, to forested mountains. Flowering cacti, purple-stamen caper bushes and herbs thrive, and the wind carries the scent of wild oregano.
Reminders of Pantelleria's ancient roots are everywhere.
In Murcia, bar Sesiventi overlooks a Bronze Age burial site; in Nica, we thought of the Romans as we jumped into bubbling springs carved into the stone; and in Pantelleria, the town is dominated by a castle begun in Byzantine times, added on by the Normans and later built by the Romans. Spanish.
Panthescan atmosphere
Getting to the island isn't easy: Danish airline DAT, Spanish airline Volotea and Italian airline ITA fly to the island from Italy, but on limited days. After high season, from the end of May to the end of September, it becomes difficult to reach except by a one-off flight or overnight ferry from Trapani on the main island of Sicily (Pantelleria is part of the Sicily region).
Arriving by plane from Palermo last June, after the shock of landing on a volcanic pebble floating in the sea, I felt the temptation to laze away. It was hot, and the wind and the chirps of cicadas were like an island lullaby. I arrived in the late afternoon, just in time for Pantelleria's signature aperitivo, when people climb onto roofs, sit on pillows and watch the sun sink into the sea. I experienced this tranquil rooftop scene, or anti-scene, in various restaurants, hotels and homes throughout my week on the island.
Noticeable was the absence of loud music. Nature was the main event, and it was treated with respect. Tesla? Mercedes? Land Rover? No way. Everyone drives beat-up cars, with Fiat Pandas being the most popular. When a friend came to pick me up in this toy-like vehicle, I saw why. Its small size and light weight make it easy to squeeze into tight parking spaces and get passed by oncoming traffic on single-lane roads, a maneuver that often requires pulling into bushes or around narrow cliffs.
You might not have a day at the beach, but you certainly have a day swimming in a lava outcrop. Barata dei Turchi is my favorite, in part because it was an adventure to reach this bay, which sits at the bottom of some 800-foot lava cliffs. I navigated the steep, unpaved terrain in my friend's old Panda, bouncing around on the rocks as dust fogged the windshield. After parking, it was a 10-minute walk down the rocks. I laid my towel on the black rocks and dove into the ocean. A thick rope fastened to the rocks helped swimmers pull themselves up.
One day, swimming was the natural choice. After a lunch of wine sauce at La Bella in the port of Scauri, I stripped off my clothes (I learned to stash my swimsuit in a tote bag) and waded into the crystal-clear waters, dodging sea urchins. All around me, sunbathers were reading (real books) and kids were snorkeling and playing (real) games. It was like 1985 again.
A boat tour offers the best views of the island, but strong winds made scheduling tricky. Finally, the gusts subsided, and I, along with my lithe captain in a Speedo, set off to explore lava caves that can only be reached by sea. We headed to the Grotta delle Sirene, then Satalia, a sponge-covered cave where, according to legend, Odysseus was enchanted by the sea nymph Calypso. We got an up-close look at the Arco delle Elefante, a lava arch that resembles an elephant drinking from water. Then we anchored in front of the cave of Punta Spadillo, where we had a lunch of panini before jumping into the greenish-blue, parrotfish-filled waters. We saw only one other boat, which had departed as we arrived.
Wine and Capelli
Anyone who knows Pantelleria would probably mention its most famous exports: passito (a sweet wine made from Zibibbo grapes) and capers. Producing wine on an island that is dry and has no fresh water is no easy feat. The vines were trained to grow horizontally to avoid the wind. To self-irrigate, the vines were planted in hollows so that dew could drip onto the roots at night. This centuries-old practice has been recognised by UNESCO as an “intangible cultural heritage”.
Each of the island's 22 winemakers produces their own version of the amber-hued passito, and each waxes poetic about how the harsh environment creates this “vino de' mediazione” — a meditative wine to sip slowly after dinner. “When you drink it, you can feel the people and the place behind the flavors,” says Antonio Lalo, fifth-generation co-owner of Donnafugata Vineyards and president of the Sicily DOC Wine Society. “This wine could never be made anywhere else.”
Sun, wind and mineral-rich volcanic soil are also the secret of Pantelleria's capers, whose extraordinary sweetness is highly valued in the gastronomic world. Most vineyards grow both grapes and capers, so wine tastings also include dishes that highlight the flavors of both.
Emanuela Bonomo, a rare female winemaker here, explained how the wind creates rich flavors of lava minerality and salt in both her produce and her small-batch wines, as she served fried zucchini, caponata and cheeses garnished with mint and oregano at the vineyard. It's topped with zibibbo raisins, fig jam, and a big lemon sliced and drizzled in oil. All layered with aromatic capers. Bonomo wanted to make sure I understood that it was all “fatto a mano.” She and the other farmers still harvest by hand.
At Lalo's vineyard, guests can walk past centuries-old olive trees and gardens, through stone walls that act as a natural amphitheater, and into the gnarled, low-ground vines and caper bushes. There are multiple tasting options, but the most exciting is a dinner under the stars, where wines are paired with traditional Pantesca cuisine.
Wellness, Volcano Style
As well as inspiring the rugged landscape, geothermal activity has made the island a spa playground, with hot springs and natural saunas. Near Armani's property in the fishing village of Ghadir, there's a small marina complete with bathtubs carved into the rocks. I follow the locals and take a slightly slushy dip (the water temperatures range from 104° to 131° Fahrenheit). Bath for about six minutes, then cool off in the adjacent harbor. Don't mind the egg smell – its high sulfur and mineral content will help soothe your pain.
On boat day I swam to Sataria Cave. The springs, which contain a mixture of three algae species, vary in temperature from lukewarm to medium. The island's largest, Specchio di Venere (Mirror of Venus), is an aquamarine lake in the crater of a volcano, surrounded by mountains and vineyards. Above the gurgling 104-degree water,, The mud is a therapeutic (and smelly) mud that bathers smear all over their bodies. Does it work? It soothes the itchy sweat rash on my arms and chest, and relieves my travel-stiffened back.
The hot springs were amazing, but what I was most excited about was detoxing in a natural stone sauna hidden in a mountain cave. After a 10-minute hike up the western slope of Montaña Grande, we arrived at the Cave of Benicula, also known as Baño Asiut. We see steam rising from a cleft in the rocks, followed by an older man in a very sexy Speedo. Inside, nine of us are sitting on the hot stones and ground (bring towels!) schvitzing in the steam that reaches 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Afterwards, we all relax on benches in the shade and enjoy the amazing views over the Piana di Monastero valley.
Volcanic cliffs and lush valleys mean there are great hiking trails to unwind after your pasta and wine: 80 percent of the island is a national park (Pantelleria National Park), with 63 miles of trails that cross Mediterranean scrubland and lead into the forests of Monte Gibbere and Monte Grande.
I expected to see swarms of tourists everywhere, like those I saw in Rome early last month, but that didn't happen — not at aperitivo hotspot Dispensa Pantesca, not at it restaurants La Nicchia and Il Principe e Il Pirata, not at Allevolte, the fashion boutique stocking the silk caftans and crisp linen trousers that travelers dream of acquiring on their trip to Italy.
If Sicheria, the chic 20-room hotel where I stayed, were in Amalfi, well-dressed guests would be vying for selfies in the fireball sunset. Not here. “The island is magical, but it's not for everyone,” says hotel owner Giulia Pazienza Gelmetti. “It's hard to get here, it's hard to get to the sea. It attracts a certain type of person, and for those who get it, the rewards are great.”
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