Lo sguardo del sacro sul mare - The Sacred overlooks the sea

The Eolian landscape is characterized by the presence and peculiar location of its churches.Because of their strategic position in the Mediterranean Sea, the Eolian Islands have been attractive to pirates of all time, indeed under all dominations. For example, «in 1544, when Spain declared war against France, Francis I, King of France, requested help from the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, who sent a fleet headed by Khayr al-Din Barbarossa. The ships attacked the Eolian Islands, whose inhabitants were either killed or deported». That year also marked an important date for both the transformation of Eolian architecture, especially that of the now destroyed or burned to the ground churches, and the repopulation of the territory with subjects from diffe- rent places and cultures in the Mediterranean basin. This was mostly «supported by Spain’s administrators who lured many people into repopulating the area through several types of benefits».It is precisely this exchange of different cultures that would then characterize the distinctive Eolian architecture.