Kaolin nowadays
Palaeontology, archaeology, geology, volcanology, mineralogy, botany, phytogeography and anthropology: these aretoday the Kaolin Quarries, all immersed in a magical landscape.
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The Palaeolagus of Timpone Pataso

The path that descends from the quarries to the valley runs along a wall a hundred meters high and shaped like “a spoon”, where a succession of densely stratified volcanoclastic deposits is clearly visible. Between 125.000 and 80.000 years ago, those deposits filled a lake which existed in the depression between the mountains of Monte Mazzacaruso and Timpone Pataso.
The deposits of Palaeolagus of Timpone Pataso have given back a rich fossil testimony of the flora present around its banks: the dwarf palm, the laurel and the Cytisus aeolicus.
Timpone Pataso is the most important palaeontological site of the Eolian island.

The Kaolin colours

The Quarries of Kaolin show an exalting polychromy, which is the result of the alterations of the rocks due to the volcanic activity still present in the smokers, ranging from pink to yellow, passing through red and orange.
A changing landscape of a thousand shades that, together with the imposing force of the surrounding nature, gives the feeling of living in an impressionist painting in constant motion.


Despite the apparently bleak appearance, the "Timponi" host a fairly rich and peculiar flora.
At the origin of the toponym of the Palmeto district there is the dwarf palm, which in the past must have been rather widespread also in Filicudi, so much to inspire the Greek name Phoinikodes.
At the edge of the paths, the Aeolian cornflower is frequent, which blooms during the summer season; this endemic subspecies is quite common in almost all the islands, where it occupies "extreme" environments, such as the sandy and inhospitable slopes of Stromboli or the bare cliffs of Panarea.
There are a lot of orchids that bloom especially in early spring.
The Cenchrus ciliaris grows in the Mediterranean poodle grasslands near the coast.


The cliffs of the "timponi" of the western side of the island host the nesting of different species of birds. The most emblematic one is maybe the common raven, the largest representative of the Corvidae family of our fauna, with a wingspan of over one meter and an entirely black colouring.
The buzzard and the kestrel, the most common representative of the Falconids in the archipelago, are also quite frequent.
During the migration period, the Palmeto meadows offer refuge to numerous species of hunting interest, such as the common quail.