History of Filicudi

With regard to the history of the island, and despite the fact that Edrisi had observed that Filicudi in his time was uninhabited (eleventh century AD), contemporary studies have shown that in Filicude there were traces of life from the Neolithic,  in fact, by Bernabò Brea were found "A few fragments of Neolithic pottery  of ‘Diana style’ (3000 BC), especially in the village of  ‘Capo Graziano’ and in connection with a village of the Bronze Age  that existed on the hill above.

One Corinthian amphora of the fifth century BC and some other fragments were found near ‘Campo Graziano’, which could be the evidence of a relic of this age "(See Luigi Bernabò Brea-M. Cavalier," The Aeolian Archaeological Museum " , Flaccovio, 1977: 163).

The Marine Archaeology has also found in the waters near ‘Campo Graziano’ a small amphora dating back to the Mycenaean III B and also a Greek ship. Then there was an abandonment “of the village of Hill of Filicude, which coincided with the flowering of the largest town on the acropolis of Lipari. In the final time of ‘Capo Graziano’ the pottery of Mycenaean type TE IIB-IIIA:I shows new elements, such as the disappearance of the factory of Aegina "(See M. Cultraro." The Mycenaeans ...", Carocci, 2006: 222).

There are few traces of population in Greek and Roman times, although there are some evidences of a possible population at “Capo Graziano”, as demonstrated by the archaeological remains  of a Greek-Italian relic of the third century BC, a relic of the Age of Augustus, with amphorae 'Haltern' 70 and 71 and 'Dressel' 4; traces of a north African cargo ship of the   III-IV century AD, and various late Roman pottery of the fifth century AD "(See A. Giardina, “Società Romana e impero tardo-antico”, Bari, Laterza, 1986: 517).

However, in the Middle Ages almost all the smaller islands were abandoned, after Edrisi, Tommaso Fazello (1498-1570) , about Filicude, remembered only a fortress demolished (Anthony Bonanno, “Interconnections in the Central Mediterranean: the Maltese Islands and Sicily in history: proceedings of the Conference, St Julians, Malta, 2nd and 3rd November 2007, Officina di studi Medievali, 2008, p.72).

The constant data about  Filicude Island and other islands in the Aeolian  are a low population, due both to the arduous conditions of safety of the people, often subject to piracy and also to the  earthquakes: "[...] All population (9000 to 11000) were deported  by Turkish admiral Khair ad-Din in 1544. In this century Filicude was almost completely deserted and abandoned to pasture; it was just a farming area  connected to a few pastoral settlement (...) To this we must add the earthquakes; in 1892  Filicude and Alicude were hit by an earthquake that brought the collapse of the housing site, and another major earthquake struck Filicudi in 1939  [...]" (See "Research on rural dwellings in Italy "Olschki, 1973: 112-114).

Even today we see a spread of small settlements (see p. 120). Finally, we observe that the island is open to a certain type of tourists, who like excursions and archaeology, in an area that still presents a natural landscape intact for centuries, with also a very attractive beaches for a relaxing and traditional seaside tourism.

Etymology of Filicudi

Al Edrisi (1099-1164), an Arab historian at the court of King Roger II of Sicily (1095-1154), was appointed by the king to write an itinerary of Sicily. "[...] The king commanded, wrote Edrisi, that  a book was compiled  in which I had to make an account of the conditions of each country and county, describing living and inanimate beings  (...) seas, mountains, rivers (...) men,  activities (...) Finally the king commanded that this book  was called ‘Nazhat al  mustaq fi ihtiraq al  afaq’, or "Fun for those who like to travel the world" [...]" (See Michele Amari, “Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula”, Torino and Rome, Loescher, 1880, Vol. I, 41-42). Edrisi thus wrote his "guide-book" in the second half of the twelfth century, and talking about Filicude wrote these words: "[...] From Lipari to the island of 'Fikudah' ( Filicude) there are ten miles to the northwest. This island is uninhabited and it has no ports [...]" (See Michele Amari, G. Schiaparelli, “L'Italia descritta nel 'Libro di Ruggero' compilato da Edrisi”. Testo arabo pubblicato con versione e note, in “Atti della Regia Accademia dei Lincei”, 1876-77, Roma, Salviucci, 1883, p. 20. ["Italy described in the 'Book of Roger' compiled by Edrisi. Arabic text published with version and notes, in “Proceedings of the Regia Accademia dei Lincei, 1876-77, Rome, Salviucci, 1883: 20. The same text in the " Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula", Vol. I: 51).

Edrisi was very concise about Filicude, but thanks to him we know a couple of things: the first is that around the middle of the eleventh century, during which Edrisi wrote, Filicude was uninhabited, and the second is that the Arabic name of Filicude was “Fikudah”. It does not seem that there is a relationship with the etymology and an Arab mediation; despite the evidence of Edrisi  "nothing suggests an Arab intervention in the Fikudah form, perhaps even corrupted, that we read in Edrisi" (See, “Società italiana di glottologia”, “La Toponomastica come fonte di conoscenza storica e linguistica”, Giardini, 1981: 121 note 95). About the meaning of Filicude seems shared among scholars that the name has Greek origins, as  explained the great linguist G. Rohlfs: "[...] Alicudi und Filicudi. Sie haben ihren Namen von AltGr. ‘Erikòdes’ (‘Islands of  heather’) und ‘Foinikòdes’ (‘Isle of Palms’[...] (or, "Alicude  and Filicude. They derive their name from the Ancient Greek 'erikòdes' and 'Foinikòdes') [See G. Rohlfs, "Historische Sprachschichten Sizilien im modernen", Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1975, Part 3: 24].

All contemporary studies move along this line, but with some distinctions, because, for example, rather than "Island of Palms" we should speak of  “Island of ferns.” In this sense, L. Zagami writes that "[...] The palm trees are present but they are not abundant in Filicude, on the contrary they lack almost entirely, so we believe that the name of this island  probably  not derived  from palm trees, but from ferns, that still are abundant in our time [...]" (See L. Zagami, "Lipari and its five millennia of history," Ditta D'Amico, 1960: 50). As always happens in the field of etymology, things are a bit muddled. In the case of Filicude some scholars suggested that it had a Phoenician origin. While Aristotle (384-322 BC) stated that Filicudi (Greek "Foinikòdes") means "island of palm trees" (as the same Greek word "foinix" means "palm"),  had some importance the opinion of Callistene (370-325 BC), according to whom "Filicude" means "Phoenician", because the Phoenicians were great sailors and settlers of the ancient world.  Actually, the  Callistene’s assertion has its own  historical consistence, at least for the fact that even today, some scholars "speak of a Phoenician permanent presence in Sicily since the fourteenth or fifteenth century BC" (About the whole question See L. Prandi, "Callistene, a historian between Aristotle and the Macedonian kings," Milan, Jaka Book, 1985:  18 footnote 30, and A. Tempio, "Malta in the Greek period, between 'emporioi' and 'apoikoi', in Anthony Bonanno, “Malta negli Iblei ...”, Officina di studi medievali, 2008: 108).

We note that the etymology for which Filicude  derives from "Phoenician" does not enjoy broad support, but A. Tempio points out that in Sicily there are many place-names phonetically related to the Phoenicians: "[...] The Aeolian Filicude , called by the Greeks ‘Phoinikoussa’ (or ‘Foinikodés’); ‘Phoinike’ (or ‘Phoinix’) was the name of a little known resort between  Taormina and Messina; a port called 'Phoinikous' was located near ‘Eloro’, and finally ‘Ostigia’, cited in the 'Odyssey', where Eumaeus was kidnapped by some Phoenician sailors would not have been more than the small island near Syracuse [...]". The fact is, said A. Tempio, that scholars have moved from a "Phoenician-mania" to a "Phoenician-phobia," and this attitude has resulted in an increase or a decrease respectively about the  Semitic presence in the West, "but some scholars trace the presence of the Phoenicians in Sicily in the fourteenth or fifteenth century (see: 107-108).

Lastly, another very interesting hypothesis on which is based  extensive studies not only about the flora but the fauna of Filicude, sets up a "return" to the Aristotelian etymology (accepted by Rohlfs), so Filicude means "island of palms" . P. Lo Cascio and S. Pasta (“Phinikodes, the island of palm trees,” in “New studies of Aeolian Archaeology” by U. Spigo and M.C. Martinelli, 2000: 127-146) starting from the observations of Zagami (1960) note that we  can not speak of "the island of ferns” (Italian “felce”), also from the linguistic point of view, because  “today the Italian word “felce” ['fern'] has its etymology in the Latin word 'filix', to which we can not report a name of  Greek origin "( p. 127).

When Aristotle spoke of "palm trees", he was not referring to the normal palm, but to a peculiar species of palm, the so-called "dwarf date palm." "[...] The palm to which Aristotle was referring  was almost certainly the ‘dwarf  palm’, 'Chamaeros humilis' [...]" (p.127). Moreover, the authors also add that in the Aeolian Islands, there are many names that refer to the "palms": [...] in Lipari there is ‘Parmitu’ , ‘Punta ‘u parmitu’ (Palm Grove), in Salina, ‘Cuosta ‘i Parmera’ [‘Coast of the Palms’] '(near ‘Filo di Branda’); in  Filicude there is ‘Munti Palmieri’ (‘Montepalmieri’) [...]" (p. 141). Finally, there is the important fact, from the standpoint of wildlife, the palm trees are much frequented by the partridges (Greek 'Perdix', Latin 'Perdix rubra'): "[...] No author has ever reported the presence of the species [of partridges] on this island, but it is believable that a time they will be available (perhaps because they were introduced), since the ornithological exploration of the Aeolian islands has remained in the early twentieth century, much less thorough than other places [...]" (p. 146). However,  " in Filicude there are some place-names like 'Vancu a Pirnici’ (near Cordonello) and there is a rare species of partridge (Italian ‘Coturnice’)[...]" (p. 141). In conclusion, many place names and archaeological evidence show that  the etymology proposed by Aristotle was correct, and that Filicude means the "Isle of Palms."