Stone Island At Triads
There are no roads, no retailers, no bars and no crowds — just the pristine coastline of the Tyrrhenian Sea, hundreds of Stone Island Clothes Island Outlet (www.stoneislandmen.com) steps, just a few donkeys to haul your luggage, a number of local fisherman and plenty of rugged charm.
Alicudi is smallest and least populated of the Aeolian islands, north of Sicily. There is only one restaurant, two grocery stores, a newsagent and a souvenir store. It is the ultimate off-the-beaten path, unplugged and untouched travel expertise.
Once you go to Alicudi you experience a simple manner of life, long forgotten elsewhere.
However the remoted island getaway holds a very trippy secret. It includes hallucinogenic bread and evil sorceresses.
Slender alley on Alicudi island. Eolie archipelago. Sicily. ItalySource:istock
For centuries, in line with CNN Travel, villagers were fed on "crazy rye" — bread made by native housewives which was unknowingly contaminated by a thoughts-blowing fungus referred to as "ergot", fostered by the humid weather situations.
Ergot is the bottom aspect of the hallucinogenic drug LSD.
Up till as lately as the 1950s, oblivious island dwellers have been getting high without even realizing it.
"It was a diet mistake, a foul consuming habit triggered by poverty, isolation and ignorance of hygiene," local historian Pino La Greca instructed CNN .
"The first harvests had been scarce and meals was precious so nothing was thrown away, even rotten bread and pasta covered in mould had been eaten.
"Scarcity of different different food sources and humidity produced this nasty fungus that when ingested caused mass hallucinations, hysteria, hypnosis and autosuggestion."
View from Lipari island on Salina, Filicudi and Alicudi islands.Supply:istock
Due to the each day thoughts-blowing journeys, legends then advanced of flying ladies, dubbed "maiara", that means "sorceress" in Aeolian dialect.
There are ancient stories of those wicked sorceresses straddling the bows of fishing boats to make them sink, or casting evil spells on enemies. Tales of men being changed into donkeys, cows and pigs had been shared among the many villagers.
"These folks had been on a LSD-induced journey 24/7, they spoke to each other and shared their visions, making real what was solely in their minds," La Greca mentioned.
Boats on seaside of Alicudi island of Eolie archipelago. Sicily. ItalySource:istock
But for some locals, the legends are actual. Peppino Taranto, the proprietor of the island’s only resort, Ericusa, beloved listening to the village elders share their visions as a child.
"These are not fairytales," he instructed CNN.
"A bishop told me these people had made a pact with the satan in order to own magical powers and fly, similar to Simon the Sorcerer had carried out to confront St. Peter in the brand new Testament. He was Christianity’s first heretic who Dante placed within the Divine Comedy’s Inferno."
He believes the final flying "maiara" died in 1948.
Tree and boat on Alicudi island. Eolie archipelago. Sicily. ItalySource:istock
However whether you believe it or not, the island embraces its mascot of sorts. There are painted murals of flying ladies dressed in long black robes with their hair blowing within the wind, and vacationers can purchase T-shirts with the "maiara" logo.
