The cinematic beauty of Sicily's Aeolian Islands

Scattered across the Tyrrhenian Sea to the northeast of Sicily, the Aeolian Islands were home to fishermen and farmers who were still living in "19th century" conditions when Italy's neo-realist film directors began using the islands as film locations in the 1950s.

Since then, they have acquired electricity and holiday villas, and have attracted the "superyacht crowd" – yet they retain a "timeless" quality, with their "savage" volcanic landscapes and "sugar cube" houses, said Stephanie Rafanelli in Condé Nast Traveller.

The most famous is Stromboli, the setting for Roberto Rossellini's 1950 film of the same name, but this towering, conical volcano (which has been erupting almost continuously since 350BC) is best viewed from neighbouring Panarea, the smallest of the archipelago's seven inhabited islands. Less than two miles across, and home to only 300 people, it offers peace and natural beauty in abundance. There are no five-star hotels, no big brands and no marinas on Panarea, but it has been in favour with "the bohemian Milanese set" since the 1960s. In the 1970s, the designers Myriam Beltrami and Paolo Tilche built Raya, a hillside hotel that resembles a "helter-skelter wedding cake". Its open-air nightclub attracted the likes of Aristotle Onassis and Gianni Agnelli, and still has a "louche" reputation.

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The little harbour town of San Pietro has other "white, tiled" hotels, such as La Piazza and Hotel Lisca Bianca, and some pleasant restaurants (most famously, Da Pina). And beside a "wild, fennel-strewn" road nearby is a beautiful 1970s villa, Antika, available for short lets. Built by Tilche in his "primitive-modernist" style, it has five bedrooms, big verandas with sea views, and a private chef who prepares "exquisite" plates with local ingredients. Walking the island's ancient shepherds' paths is a delight, but equally wonderful are boat trips to the rocky islets nearby. Their "fractured" profiles feature in Antonioni's 1960 film "L'Avventura"; on one, you can see the mosaic floor of a Roman villa.

Stays at Antika cost from £11,995 per week (thethinkingtraveller.com).