Ferries from Milazzo

Your hydrofoil to the Aeolian Islands leaves from an oil port. Milazzo handles roughly 16 million tonnes of cargo a year against 943,300 passengers, and the refinery behind the quay processes about 10 million tonnes annually across 212 hectares. The islands traffic is the small, visible part of a large industrial operation.

The two ports in one harbour

The commercial side runs to about 2,200 m of quayage with two jetties and eight berths for crude oil, refined products and LPG. The Raffineria di Milazzo occupies more than 212 hectares spread between the municipalities of Milazzo and San Filippo del Mela.

The passenger terminal sits alongside it, handling the hydrofoils and ferries to all seven Aeolian islands.

⚠ It changes what the approach looks like

Travellers arriving expecting a Sicilian harbour town find tank farms and pipework on the isthmus first. That is not a wrong turn; the refinery is between the road and the sea for a stretch, and the passenger quay is beyond it.

Follow signs for the aliscafi and the ferry terminal rather than for the port in general, which will take you to the industrial gates.

What sails to the islands

From our timetable: Lipari with 16 sailings, Vulcano with 18, Salina with 17 and Stromboli with 11 — fifty-one active sailings, the densest island network from any Sicilian port.

Which of those is a hydrofoil and which is a car ferry, and why the crossing times look wrong, is explained on the Milazzo guide.

Getting here

Milazzo is on Sicily's north coast between Messina and Palermo, on the coastal railway and the A20. The station is outside the centre with buses down to the port — most people arriving by train allow less time than they need.

Season

The island services peak from June to September, when the hydrofoils sell out and the passenger side of the port is at capacity. The refinery, of course, does not have a season, which is why the harbour never feels quiet.